



c^-^f^Vrtt,^] 




Qass 
Book, 



ftsr^ I mas^ — ^mI — iNi<Jl 






HOW TO KEEP BEES 
FOR PROFIT 



THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

NEW YORK • BOSTON • CHICAGO 
SAN FRANCISCO 

MACMILLAN & CO., Limited 

LONDON • BOMBAY • CALCUTTA 
MELBOURNE 

THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, Ltd. 

TORONTO 



HOW TO KEEP BEES 
EOR PROFIT 



BY 
D. EVERETT LYON, Ph.D. 



WITH FRONTISPIECE 



0* 



THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

1918 

AJX rights reserved 






OOPYKIGHT, 1910, 

Bt the macmillan company. 



Set up and electrotyped. Published May, 1910. Reprinted 
June, 1910 ; January, 1912 ; March, 1913; September, 1914; 
April, September, 1915; March, October, 1916 ; June, 1917. 






J. S. Gushing Co. — Berwick & Smith Co. 
Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. 



INTEODUCTION 

As far back as the dawn of history the 
honey bee was regarded as a benefactor *to 
man, and it is not surprising, therefore, that 
on the ancient monuments of Egypt, in the 
classic writings of Rome and Greece, we find 
many references to the bee, which, with the 
exception of the silkworm, has the distinction 
of being the only insect kept by man in a 
semi-domestic state for his benefit. The in- 
terest of our forefathers in these busy little 
people was due to the fact that honey was 
practically the only sweet which they could 
readily obtain. 

The bees were hunted in their native habi- 
tat in the cleft of the rocks, in the heart of the 
trees of the forest, and such other places 
where they were accustomed to build their 
combs. In securing their golden stores the 



INTRODUCTION 

hunters were compelled to smoke and destroy 
the bees, thus creating in them a fear of smoke 
that has been inbred for centuries. 

So deeply ingrained is this fear that the 
modern beekeeper has but to puff a little 
smoke into the entrances of their hives to 
render them tractable and permit of their 
easy handling, and that without any serious 
interference with their multiform labors. 

We do not have to search the records of 
the past to find evidences of the brutal and 
needless destruction of bees to secure their 
honey; for it is still the custom of a large 
number of ignorant beekeepers to brimstone 
their faithful little workers, when the adoption 
of modern hives and methods, neither expen- 
sive nor intricate, would render it unnecessary. 

During the last few centuries there have 
been naturalists of note who have given much 
time to the study of the habits of the honey 
bee, and the literature of the world has been 
greatly enriched by the observations of Jan 
Swammerdam, born at Amsterdam in 1637; 

vi 



INTRODUCTION 

Huber, the blind Swiss, who was ably assisted 
by a devoted wife and faithful manservant; 
as well as a host of others equally well known. 

No less great a personage than Pliny has 
recorded his observations of the honey bee, 
and Shakespeare also frequently mentions it. 

Of modern writers, Dzierzon in Germany, 
Cheshire and Cowan in England, Langstroth, 
Quinby, and Root in America, have added to 
the rich store of knowledge we have on Apis 
mellifera. 

The Belgian Maeterlinck is not to be taken 
seriously in his interesting little book, "The 
Life of the Bee"; for however attractive it 
may be from a literary standpoint, it teaches 
the rankest heresy concerning the habits of 
these wonderful little people, and shows but a 
superficial knowledge of them. 

The late Lorenzo Lorraine Langstroth, 
known as the Father of American Bee-keeping, 
was the inventor of the hive which bears his 
name, and its almost universal adoption in 
this country has wrought a revolution in bee- 

vii 



INTRODUCTION 

keeping both from the commercial standpoint 
and in the ease with which the hfe work of 
the bees may be studied. 

It is the purpose of this volume to give the 
reader an insight into the life history of the 
bee family, and point out the various methods 
by which they may be made of increased 
interest and profit. 



CONTENTS 

PAGB 

Introduction • v 

CHAPTEE 

I. Bees — Fruit — Honey and Monet . • 1 

n. Physiology of the Honey Bee . .11 

III. Races of Bees 18 

IV. The Home of the Bees . • • . 28 
V. The Bee Family 41 

VI. How to start Beekeeping — Hives and 

Tools — Transferring Bees . . 55 

Vn. How TO quiet and handle Bees — How 

TO AVOID Stings — Remedies . . 73 

Vrn. Weey Bees Swarm — Howto hive a Swarm 

— How to control Swarming . . 83 
IX. Raising Queen Bees — How to introduce 

A Queen 97 

X. How TO PRODUCE COMB HONEY . . .117 
XI. How TO PRODUCE EXTRACTED HoNEY . . 133 

Xn. How TO MAKE Increase .... 152 
XIII. Location of the Apiary — Out Apiaries » 

— Moving Bees 172 

ix 



CONTENTS 

OHAPTEX TXVa 

XrV. Diseases and Enemies of Bees . . 187 

XV. Mabketing the Honey Crop . . . 202 

XVI. Beeswax — Its Uses — How to render It 217 

XVII. Honey as a Food and Medicine . . 230 

XVni. Robber Bees — How to prevent Robbing 258 

XIX. Feeding 269 

XX. How TO WINTER BeES SUCCESSFULLY . 283 

XXI. Sources of Honey 297 



HOW TO KEEP BEES 
FOR PROFIT 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

CHAPTER I 

BEES FRUIT — HONEY AND MONEY 

4 HIVE of bees nestling in the grass in 
-^-^ the orchard is neither artistic nor orna- 
mental in the eyes of most people, and the 
sentiment it inspires may even be one of fear. 

But when we consider that within its narrow 
confines there is housed a teeming popula- 
tion of over thirty thousand of the busiest 
little folk in the world, the feeling changes 
from fear to amazement at the wonderful 
work that is there going on. 

Judging from the size of the population, 
we should naturally infer that pandemonium 
would reign; and this belief would be strength- 
ened by the constant bustle and hum that 

B 1 



BEES — FRUIT — HONEY AND MONEY 

engaged in sipping from the flowers the nectar 
awaiting them. 

At the entrance of each hive is a number 
of sentinel bees, armed with their sharpened 
spears, ready to repel robber bees from strange 
hives, or whatever else may threaten to dis- 
turb them. No bee returning from the field 
can pass the vigilant sentinels without the 
proper countersign, and that countersign is 
the distinctive odor of the colony to which it 
belongs, for this is the only means of identi- 
fication the bees possess; and so powerful 
are their organs of sense, that a strange bee 
seldom passes by them. These sentinels are 
relieved from time to time, but at all times, 
during the genial days of spring, summer, 
and early fall, the entrance to their little 
homes is fully guarded. 

With a mother queen to rule them and pro- 
vide the offspring to take the place of the old 
bees that are constantly dying (for the average 
life of a worker bee is only about five weeks), 
the work of rearing the young, the building 

3 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

accompany the bees as they come and go 
from their humble home to the fields in quest 
of nature's sweets. 

Instead of chaos being the order of things, 
the very reverse is true; and each denizen of 
the hive has its allotted task which it busily 
and joyfully performs, and that with clock- 
like precision. 

The young bees for the first few days of 
their existence spend their time in taking care 
of their developing brothers and sisters, feed- 
ing the larvae a food made of a mixture of 
honey, pollen, water, and a secretion from 
the glands of the head and chyle-stomach, 
and only varying this task by an occasional 
play spell of flying in front of the hive during 
the early part of the afternoon. Other bees, 
fully matured, are afield in quest of pollen 
from the flowers, while others are gathering 
propolis, or bee-glue, with which to firmly 
fasten the lids and bottom boards of their 
homes. Others still are carriers of water, 
while the main force of field bees are busily 

2 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

of comb, and the storing of honey against a 
rainy day goes steadily on. 

With a knowledge of these facts does not 
the aspect of the hive change from a com- 
monplace-looking box to a veritable kingdom, 
presided over by royalty, which challenges our 
interest and admiration, and at once inspires 
in us the purpose to become the better ac- 
quainted with it? 

Another thing we should not overlook — and 
we are liable to do so if we look at the hive 
only from the standpoint of the number of 
pounds of honey it is likely to produce — is, 
that bees bear a close and vital relation to the 
matter of fruit production in the neighbor- 
hood. The real mission of the honey bee after 
all is not the production of honey, for that is 
only incidental, but rather to insure the proper 
pollination of our fruit blossoms, and were 
it not for their active agency in this depart- 
ment of agricultural life, the fruit output of 
the country would be astonishingly small. 

A careful examination of the body of a 
4 



BEES — FRUIT — HONEY AND MONEY 

worker bee will reveal that nature has clothed 
it in a coat of fuzzy down, and as the little 
fellow enters the blossom in search for its 
hidden sweets, the particles of pollen adhere 
to the down, so that as the bee goes from 
flower to flower, it unconsciously performs the 
work of cross pollination. 

It is a remarkable fact that nature gives 
the nectar-secreting organs only to those blos- 
soms whose fruit demands the pollination of 
their seeds. 

There have been certain sections of the 
country, where soil and climatic conditions 
were in every respect favorable to fruit pro- 
duction, yet there was a surprising lack of 
fruit, and careful examination has shown that 
bees were not present in the neighborhood. 

Horticulturists were thus led to import 
bees from a distance, with almost immediate 
benefit to the orchards. So, if for no other 
reason than that of securing a good quantity 
and quality of fruit, bees have proved a real 
blessing to the farmer and the suburbanite. 

5 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

The phase of bee-keeping, however, that 
most appeals to the average man or woman, 
is that of honey production, and in this respect 
it is an unusually safe undertaking. 

It is surprising how locations, apparently 
most unpromising, will often produce a crop 
of honey from sources hitherto unsuspected, 
and yet it is a fact that the bees by their mar 
vellous industry, and long flights of as much 
as five miles from home, will year after year 
richly reward their owners by a substantial 
surplus. 

There are possibly not over two hundred 
persons of all classes, including many pro- 
fessional men and women, in the United States 
who make bee-keeping a sole means of live- 
lihood, and though the possibilities of profit 
are almost infinite, the majority of people are 
contented to keep from two to twenty-five 
hives of bees as a side line. Some of the 
most successful beekeepers are women, their 
deft fingers making them particularly adapted 
to the rapid handling of bees, especially in 



BEES — FRUIT — HONEY AND MONEY 

commercial queen-rearing, of which we shall 
speak later on. Smokers with which to sub- 
due the colonies, veils for the faces, and gloves 
for the hands will enable the most timid to 
keep bees with perfect safety, and to go through 
the entire season without experiencing the 
slightest annoyance from stings. 

How much honey a single hive of bees will 
produce in a single season, and how profitable 
bees may become, are questions that are fre- 
quently asked by the prospective beekeeper, 
and in answer it may be said that results will 
depend upon the flora of the locality, the 
amount of care given to the bees, and the con- 
ditions under which they have been wintered. 

It is an undisputed fact that bees are the 
most profitable of stock that can be kept, as 
their keeping involves little outlay beyond 
the initial expense of the proper outfit, and a 
small amount of time given them. 

There is a large number of business men 
who have suburban homes, and keep a few 
colonies of bees, giving to their care only the 

7 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

time remaining after they return home late 
in the afternoon, or in the early morning 
before going to business, yet who have made 
a marked profit from the keeping of their 
few hives. The writer has had individual 
colonies that have given as high as one hundred 
and twenty pounds of comb honey each, 
which was sold to the neighbors for twenty-five 
cents a pound, leaving a net profit of over 
$25 a hive; this, however, was exceptional, 
though I have known a number of people 
who have kept a few hives of bees to average 
this and more from every hive. 

It should be remembered that when a large 
number of hives are kept in a limited territory, 
the output per hive will diminish in propor- 
tion to the number of hives kept in the home 
yard, as there will be more bees for the blos- 
soms to support, but where not more than 
seventy-five hives are kept in a fairly large 
section, there should be little difficulty in reap- 
ing a profit close on to $5 or $6 per hive. Un- 
less one is located in the buckwheat or alfalfa 

8 



BEES — FRUIT — HONEY AND MONEY 

section of the country, the better plan would 
be not to overstock the home yard, but rather 
resort to a system of outyards, placing fifty 
to sixty hives of bees in, say, three yards, one 
at the home and the others three miles from 
the home in opposite directions, all of them 
being easy of access. In this way the posses- 
sion of, say, one hundred and fifty hives of bees 
in the hands of an experienced person should 
provide a fair income, especially if the product 
is sold in the neighborhood at retail prices. 

There is a large number of people who keep 
only three or four hives of bees to supply their 
own table, and an occasional gift of honey to 
a friend, who get great pleasure from keeping 
them, and who like to point with pride to the 
comb of immaculately white honey on the 
table as the product of their busy bees. 

When it comes to a production of honey 
which runs up into tons, then the placing of the 
product comes under the heading of How to 
Dispose of the Crop, of which we will speak 
in a later chapter. 

9 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

By all means get some bees, and be sure 
that you will never regret it; for the writer, 
after fifteen years' experience in the keeping 
of bees, is as enthusiastic as when, many years 
ago, he became the proud possessor of an old- 
fashioned hive, and acquired the *'Bee Fever," 
from which he has never recovered, and never 
expects to recover. 



10 



CHAPTER II 

PHYSIOLOGY OF THE HONEY BEE 

TT would be impossible to minutely de- 
-*- scribe the physiology of the honey bee 
within the narrow confines of a single chapter, 
nevertheless in the keeping of bees it is neces- 
sary to understand the most important of 
their physical characteristics. A more thor- 
ough and extensive discussion of their various 
organs can be found in works by Cheshire 
and others, who devote whole chapters to a 
single organ or function of Apis melijera. 

The honey or hive bee belongs to the order 
Hymenoptera, perhaps the most comprehen- 
sive order of insects, most of which are re- 
markable for social traits and quality of 
instinct. 

As we look into the brood nest of a colony 
of bees, we find that they have built a number 

11 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 



of accurately spaced combs, in the cells of which 
they store their honey and pollen, and rear their 

young. The 
combs are 
made of bees- 
wax, and are 
composed of 
worker and 
drone cells, 
hexagonal in 
shape and as 
thin as paper. 
In these cells 
the queen de- 
posits her 
eggs, which 
the cluster- 
ing bees 

Honey bee dissected. After Witzgall. maintain at a 

proper temperature, varying the kind of food 
according to the cell and the kind of egg that 
reposes in it. The eggs will hatch in from six- 
teen to twenty-four days, a worker egg taking 

1£ 




PHYSIOLOGY OF THE HONEY BEE 

twenty-one days, a drone twenty-four, while 
a queen cell requires but sixteen days. 

The laying powers of the queen bee are 
remarkable, as she will lay anywhere from 
two thousand to five thousand eggs in a given 
twenty-four hours. She does not, however, 
lay at this rate during the entire year, but does 
her best during the breeding season, during 
the summer and spring months. She is the 
only perfectly developed female in the hive, 
whereas the workers are imperfectly devel- 
oped females; their lack of development 
being due to the smaller cells in which they are 
reared and the absence of royal jelly in the 
food that is given the egg and larvae. 

The drones are perfectly developed males, 
and their sole function is the fertilization of the 
virgin queens, an act taking place while in 
flight, and resulting in the immediate death 
of the drone. 

Unlike mammals, the bees have no skeleton 
as a framework for support, but have a frame- 
work mostly external, composed of a horny 

13 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

bonelike substance called chitine. The body 
of the bee is made up of three distinct parts, 
the head, the thorax, and the abdomen, all 
closely related. 

Extending from the head on each side are 
the antennae, most delicate organs, in which 
are located the senses of hearing and smelling, 
and an unknown sense by which they can 
communicate their desires one to another. 

There are also located in the head of the 
honey bees two sets of eyes, five in number; 
the three convex eyes, or ocelli, are microscopic 
in power and are used by the bees while work- 
ing in the dark recesses of their hives. 

The two large compound eyes are com- 
posed of thousands of little eyes or facets 
arranged over the front and sides of the head, 
thus enabling the bee to see in many direc- 
tions when in flight. 

Projecting from the head and mouth of 
the honey bee is another wonderful and deli- 
cate organ, the tongue, marvellously adapted 
to the work for which it is intended. In the 

14 



PHYSIOLOGY OF THE HONEY BEE 

first place, it Is not round like a tube, but is in 
reality a flexible trough, the edges of which can 
be brought together to enable the busy worker 
to extract the last drop of nectar from the 
yielding blossoms. 

By various experiments in breeding, the 
tongue of some strains of bees has been 
lengthened considerably, thus enabling them 
to extract the nectar from the red clover, 
whose corolla is so deep that its hidden sweets 
are beyond the reach of the ordinary bee. 

The thorax is the intermediate part of the 
body of the bee, and in it are located the organs 
of locomotion, consisting of six legs and four 
wings. The posterior legs are the most inter- 
esting, as they have on them the little recepta- 
cles for pollen in which the bees carry the pollen 
from the flowers to their hives; sometimes 
they are so heavily loaded as to be seriously 
impeded in their flight. 

The honey sac is located in the abdomen, 
and is a false or secondary stomach, and is the 
vessel in which the bee carries the nectar from 

15 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

the field to its hive. The heart of the honey 
bee is made up of five elongated sections, re- 
sembling in appearance a clinical thermometer; 
beginning in the head, it extends through the 
thorax clear to the extremity of the abdomen. 

The blood of the bee is colorless, and is 
oxygenated by the air coming in contact with 
it through the many tracheae, or breathing- 
holes, with which the outer shell of the bee is 
pierced. 

Extending from the lower extremity of the 
abdomen of the bee is its sting. It is barbed 
like a spear, so that the bee can seldom with- 
draw it when once it is inserted, and it is the 
tearing away of its sting that so mutilates 
and cripples the bee that it usually dies after 
stinging. The poison of the sting is similar to 
that of the bite of the rattlesnake, and it is esti- 
mated that if a person should be stung by five 
hundred bees at a time the poison injected 
into the system would be about the same in 
quantity as that from the bite of a rattlesnake. 
The drones have no stings, and the queen 

16 



PHYSIOLOGY OF THE HONEY BEE 

seldom uses hers except to aid in depositing 
her eggs. 

As we stated at the beginning of this chapter, 
it is impossible to give more than a casual 
glance at the physiology of the bee and 
merely call attention to some of its organs, 
for to do full justice to the intricate and deli- 
cately adjusted machinery of these wonderful 
little creatures would require a work three 
times the size of the present one. The nature 
student who is interested solely in the natural 
history of the honey bee, and to whom the 
commercial and profitable part of bee-keeping 
does not appeal, we would refer to the excellent 
books by Cowan, Cheshire, Cook, Langstroth, 
Burroughs, and others who have gone into 
a detailed and elaborate discussion of the 
subject of bee physiology. 

The organs and various functions out- 
lined are practically the same in all varieties 
of bees, and it is the possession and use of 
these various powers that enables them to 
carry on their laborious and profitable work. 
c 17 



CHAPTER III 

RACES OF BEES 

rriHERE are many races of bees, as many, 
•^ in fact, as there are different races 
of the human family, and each race has its 
distinctive racial characteristics. Among them 
are the Common Blacks, the Italians, the 
Carniolans, the Caucasians, the Cyprians, the 
Banats, the Holy Lands, as well as many 
others which it would be useless to describe, 
as the majority of beekeepers keep either 
the Italians or the Blacks. 

The Blacks are widely distributed through- 
out the United States, having been brought 
over by the early settlers, while the Italians 
are of quite recent importation. The Blacks, 
while fairly good honey gatherers, and build- 
ers of the whitest combs, a thing much desired 

18 



RACES OF BEES 

by the producer of comb honey, are seldom 
if ever kept by the progressive beekeeper, 
owing to certain undesirable traits of char- 
acter. 

They are of a very nervous temperament, 
and are apt to rush all over their combs when 
being manipulated, which renders the finding 
of the queen a hard task ; they will also gather 
in great clusters on the ends of their frames 
and fall to the ground, to the annoyance and 
discomfort of the person handling them. 
They are very irritable, and will often fly from 
their hives and attack the passerby with no 
provocation whatever. Whether they are natu- 
rally lazy or quickly disheartened, the fact 
remains that they do not seem able to resist 
disease and enemies as vigorously as the Ital- 
ians. Again and again have I seen a strong 
colony of Blacks completely destroyed through 
the ravages of the bee moth or from disease, 
which a weak colony of Italians seem able 
to resist. 

One thing is certain, the Blacks become 
19 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

discouraged and quit working upon the first 
indication of a cessation of the honey flow, 
and thus leave a lot of unfinished sections in 
their supers, while other races will continue 
working right up to the close of the flow. 

These undesirable traits have induced the 
majority of beekeepers to discard them, 
though some beekeepers prefer a hybrid race 
of Italians and Blacks, as they claim they 
get in such a mixture of blood the gentleness 
and hustling qualities of the Italians and the 
superior comb-building qualities of the Blacks. 
However, any one who has kept Hybrids can 
vouch for the fact that what is gained is more 
than offset by the viciousness of the Hybrid, 
as they seem possessed of an incurable pro- 
pensity to sting. 

The Cyprians have been extensively kept; 
they are natives of the Island of Cyprus, and 
as honey -gatherers are without an equal. 

They are good defenders of their hives, 
and will repel the attacks of diseases and 
robber bees better than any other known 

20 



RACES OF BEES 

race, and are most excellent winterers. As 
workers they are indefatigable, gathering 
honey from every available quarter even after 
other races have quit, but they have the habit 
of filling their cells completely full, so that 
the combs have a watery appearance, which 
renders its sale difficult, hence the few bee- 
keepers who stick to them run them mostly 
for extracted honey. While this race has all 
of the desirable qualities attributed to them, 
their dispositions are so vicious, that there is 
hardly a beekeeper in the land who keeps 
an absolutely pure strain of Cyprians. By 
no means should the novice ever think of 
keeping Cyprians, as they are extremely sensi- 
tive, and resent the slightest jarring of their 
hives, and when once aroused no amount of 
smoke will subdue them, in fact, it seems to 
infuriate them the more. 

The Carniolans are large gray bees from 
the Alpine regions of Carniola in Austria, and 
with the exception of the Caucasians are the 
gentlest race known. Coming originally from 

21 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

a cold country, the Carniolans are the hardiest 
race we know, and not being so sensitive to 
cold as other races, will begin to go afield 
earlier in the morning, and work later in the 
day than others, and for this reason, they 
winter unusually well. Their comb honey is 
the best produced, as they do not, like the 
Cyprians, fill their cells completely full, and 
thus they produce comb honey of snowy white- 
ness. 

To handle them is a delight, as they seldom 
sting, and I have worked with them day in 
and day out without any protection for the 
face or hands, and for weeks at a time have 
gone without being stung. 

But the great objection to the Carniolans, 
and one that has led most beekeepers to dis- 
card them, is their proneness to frequent 
and excessive swarming, which means a loss 
of bees and a loss of honey. The Cauca- 
sians are in appearance not unlike the Car- 
niolans, and certain strains of them are hardly 
distinguishable from the Blacks, but in dis- 

22 



RACES OF BEES 

position they are in a class by themselves, 
as their gentleness is simply marvellous. 
Again and again I have tried to anger them 
without success; in fact, I have kicked their 
hives, shaken their frames, blown my breath 
on them, and, whereas other races would have 
attacked me at once, the Caucasians would 
offer no retaliation. It might be inferred 
from this that they are not good defenders of 
their hives; but such is not the case, for there 
have been times when I have been abusing 
them, when they would sally forth and fight 
to the death robber bees that tried to take 
advantage of their hives being opened out of 
season, to rob them of their stores. 

They are good winterers, and builders of 
choice white combs, and not given to exces- 
sive swarming, but they have an unpleasant 
habit of plastering balls of propolis, or bee- 
glue, all over their frames and at the entrances 
of their hives. 

The main objection to this otherwise most 
excellent race is the fact that they so closely 

23 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

resemble the Blacks that only an expert can 
distinguish the difference, and if one is not 
careful, before long the entire apiary will be 
made up of Blacks. 

The Banats are a race of bees from Hun- 
gary, in appearance similar to the Caucasians, 
remarkably gentle, and, best of all, are great 
breeders in the early spring, so when the 
honey flow comes on they have a great force to 
gather it. They build beautiful white combs 
and gather little propolis, and are so little 
given to swarming that some beekeepers 
have claimed that they are a non-swarming 
race. However, their introduction is so recent 
that the beginner will do well to pass them by 
until a thorough test shall have firmly estab- 
lished their good qualities. 

On the whole it may be said that fully 75 
per cent of the professional beekeepers prefer 
the Italians, as this race seems to have more 
desirable traits and fewer disagreeable ones 
than any other. These bees came originally 
from Italy, the first successful importation of 

24 



RACES OF BEES 

queens being about 1861, and at once leaped 
into favor, maintaining their precedence to the 
present time. In appearance they are very 
handsome, varying in color from a leather- 
brown to the most lustrous gold, and, as com- 
pared with the Blacks, are remarkable for 
their gentleness. They rarely get nervous 
when they are handled, and it is very easy to 
find their queens. I have frequently opened 
their hives after nine o'clock in the evening, 
and have often brought a comb of bees into 
the house and passed it around for visitors 
to examine, and I have yet to know of an occa- 
sion where those so examining them have been 
stung, though they will sting if sufficiently 
provoked. 

They are energetic workers, not easily dis- 
couraged, and, having originally come from 
a warm climate, they are alert for enemies 
and seem to have no trouble in repelling the 
bee moth. 

It has been said that the Italian bees are 
more prone to rob than other races, but this 

25 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

is an evidence of their honey-gathering quali- 
ties. It may be likewise said that when pre- 
cautionary methods are taken they soon cease 
to rob, a thing that cannot be said of some of 
the other races when the habit has once been 
formed. After many years of experience 
with almost every known race of bees, I have 
been compelled to come back to the Italians 
as the best general-purpose bee in existence. 

Of late years there has been a tendency 
toward golden-all-over Italians on the part of 
some beekeepers, and this demand has led 
some breeders in their anxiety to quickly 
produce them to use a Cyprian cross because 
of their bright golden color, with the result 
that some strains of Italians are as vicious 
as the pure Cyprians. For this reason the 
beginner will do well to select Italians of a 
leather color, as they are more certain to be 
of a pure strain, and experience has proved 
that they winter much better than the golden 
ones. 

In selecting Italian bees it would be a wise 
26 



RACES OF BEES 

thing to secure from some reputable breeder 
queens of the red clover strain, as these bees 
will visit and secure a rich harvest from red 
clover, whereas ordinary Italian bees will 
seldom visit it, as their tongues are not suffi- 
ciently long to reach down into the deep corolla 
of the blossom. 



£7 



CHAPTER IV 

THE HOME OF THE BEES 

npHE natural home of the honey bee 
-*- before it became domesticated was in 
the heart of a forest tree, or in the cleft of a 
rock, sheltered from the wind and rain, and 
more or less protected from the cold. 

That the remembrance of their early homes 
still remains is shown by the fact that when a 
swarm is not hived, and gets away before its 
owner can care for it, they are apt to seek the 
interior of a partially decayed tree, entering 
and emerging through a knothole. It is not 
uncommon to find a tree thus tenanted by 
a vagrant swarm. I have also found many 
swarms that have made their homes under 
the weather boards of a house or under the 
eaves of a garret; only a few years ago I 

28 



THE HOME OF THE BEES 

removed a swarm of bees from a bird box, 
where the bees had driven the birds from their 
homes and taken complete possession. 

Whether a swarm finds its home in a modern 
hive or in the heart of an old tree, the first 
thing they proceed to do is to remove all 
trash and render it scrupulously clean, for 
they are the most cleanly little creatures in 
existence. Again and again have I seen bee 
trees where the process of decay had already 
begun, but no sooner had a swarm of bees 
taken possession than they at once removed 
all decayed wood, and so completely var- 
nished its interior with propolis, or bee-glue, 
that future decay was impossible. 

We are, however, more interested in the 
modern home, or hive, of the bee. Lifting 
its lid and glancing within, we find a set of 
eight or ten frames of comb, according to the 
size of the hive. We say "frames" of combs, 
for no up-to-date beekeeper would think of 
throwing a swarm of bees into an empty hive 
and permitting them to build their combs in 

£9 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

every direction, as this would render manipula- 
tion of the hive an impossibility. The late 
Lorenzo Langstroth was the inventor of the 
movable frame hive with bee space, and his 
invention has revolutionized the industry. 
These frames fit the hive bodies and have a 
bee space all around them so as to leave no 
space for the bees to build bur and brace 
combs, which would make it impossible to lift 
them out to examine the brood, find the queen, 
and do such other work as from time to 
time is essential. 

By the use of frames it is possible to lift 
out a single frame of comb at a time without 
tearing each comb from the sides of the hive, 
as each comb is nicely built in the frame and 
bound on all sides by wood. To insure 
straight combs and a large proportion of worker 
cells, all progressive beekeepers place in each 
frame before the time of hiving the swarm a 
large sheet of wax foundation, which nearly fits 
the frames, and on which have been stamped 
the rudiments of cells. These sheets of foun- 

30 



THE HOME OF THE BEES 

dation are wired in, so that when the combs 
are built out from them each comb is held 
securely in place and no danger of the comb 
breaking loose from the frame is possible in 
handling or when extracting the honey. This 
foundation must of necessity be pure beeswax 
melted and moulded, as the bees will not accept 
or work on any substitute that has been found, 
so that, the foundation being pure beeswax like 
the comb that is built on it, the honey is in no 
sense adulterated. 

Many thousands of pounds of foundation 
are used annually by beekeepers, and this 
has given rise to the popular notion that it is 
possible to make artificial combs, fill them with 
glucose, cap them, and sell them as pure 
honey. It might be said here that there never 
yet has been produced a pound of artificial 
comb honey, and so determined are the bee- 
keepers to stop the lie that the National 
Beekeepers' Association offers a standing re- 
ward of $1000 for the first pound of artificial 
comb honey that shall be produced. 

31 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

Looking down into the home of the bees, 
we find a number of frames of comb running 
from front to back of the hive and covered by 
clustering bees. These combs constitute the 
furniture of the bees, for in the cells of the 
combs they rear their young and store their 
honey. The bees usually begin at the tops 
of their frames and build their combs down- 
ward until every frame is nicely filled. 

These combs are made of wax, which the 
bees manufacture from the honey with which 
they have filled their stomachs. Hanging 
in clusters, they produce small pentagonal 
disks of wax from the little wax scales or 
pouches on the under side of the abdomen of 
the worker bee. The work of wax-building, 
like that of feeding the eggs, is done mostly 
by the young bees, as the older bees seem to 
have lost the wax-producing power with old 
age. It usually takes the bees about twenty- 
four hours to produce wax after having gorged 
themselves with honey, and they will consume 
from nine to ten pounds of honey to produce 



THE HOME OF THE BEES 

a pound of wax. Sometimes, but not often, a 
colony will use pieces of old comb in wax- 
building, but generally they prefer the fresh 
disks, as being more pliable. 

Their cells are hexagonal in shape, thus 
conforming to one of the main principles of 
mathematics, in the matter of occupying all 
available space and also of securing the 
greatest structural strength. The cells are 
not horizontal, but incline from their opening 
to their bottom, so as to be filled with honey 
the more easily by the bees and to prevent 
their running over. 

The comb is a trifle over an inch in thick- 
ness, with cells on each side, and in their 
natural state the bees space their combs about 
^ of an inch apart, so that they may travel 
with comfort between them. These combs 
when first built are a beautiful white, but they 
soon become discolored, and when old will 
be almost black, but this does not impair their 
usefulness, as they will last for several years. 
Being non-conductors of heat and cold, they 
D 33 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

become a perfect medium for keeping the bees 
warm, and likewise usually prevent the honey 
from granulating. 

The cells in which the workers are reared 
are much smaller than those in which they 
rear their drones. While it cannot be said that 
all cells are mathematically correct, it can be 
generally stated that there are about twenty- 
five cells to a square inch. 

It cannot be said that the bees act with 
intelligence in the matter of cell-building, 
first building worker and then drone cells, 
for recent experiments seem to prove that they 
are simply reflex machines, obeying without 
violation a law of nature. 

Besides the combs we will find that the bees 
have used some propolis, or bee-glue, with 
which they have stopped the cracks of their 
hive and rendered it rain and wind proof. 
For some reason the bees cannot tolerate any 
foreign object in their homes, and should a piece 
of wood or other movable substance be thrown 
into their hives, they will immediately proceed 

34 



THE HOME OF THE BEES 

to tightly propolize or glue it in place. I have 
known of instances where squirrels, snakes, 
mice, and even toads, have invaded a hive and 
been stung to death, and the bees, being unable 
to remove the carcass, have covered it with a 
thick coating of propolis until it has been 
literally embalmed or mummified. The pro- 
polis is secured from resinous trees, and when 
first gathered is so sticky that the bees smear 
it over their hives at once. Certain races of 
bees gather more propolis than others, the 
Caucasians particularly being generous, in 
fact too generous, in its use. There is no 
doubt that while propolis is troublesome when 
prying off the lids of hives, and taking out the 
frames, it is nevertheless a preservative to the 
wood of the hives and adds to their life and 
usefulness. 

It was their love for propolis or glue that 
led to the wide publication some years ago 
of the story of the funeral of a German 
beekeeper, whose coffin, as it was carried 
from the house to the hearse, was covered by 

35 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

the bees, who clustered upon it as a token of 
their esteem for their departed keeper. The 
truth was, the bees were securing some of 
the fresh varnish with which the coffin was 
polished, and were perfectly oblivious of the 
fact that their owner had left them. A super- 
stitious custom is still practised in some parts of 
Europe on the death of a beekeeper of drap- 
ing the hives with black ; a relative of the dead 
man then whispers into the entrance of each 
hive the sad intelligence that their owner is 
no more. It is believed by many such people 
that if this is not done the bees will leave the 
hives and will not return. 

As we examine the combs in the home of 
the bees, we shall find some of the cells contain- 
ing honey, others pollen, while nestling in 
still others we find the developing brood. In 
taking care of the brood as well as maintain- 
ing themselves, the bees require water, pollen, 
and honey; thus we find it present in their 
homes at all times. 

Honey is not a product of the bees in that 
S6 



THE HOME OF THE BEES 

they manufacture it, though it undergoes a 
chemical change in their honey-sacs, but is a 
nectar gathered from various blossoms, and, 
together with pollen and water, constitutes their 
principal food. 

When first gathered, this honey or nectar 
is very thin and may easily be shaken from 
the combs like so much sweetened water, 
and in fact it contains a large percentage of 
water, but after the bees have evaporated the 
water by fanning it after it has been stored in 
the cells, it becomes thick and ripe. 

It is generally thought also that the bees mix 
with it a small percentage of formic acid to act 
as a preservative, and the sour taste of some 
honey while in process of evaporation seems 
to prove this. 

Honey, being gathered from many sources, 
has distinctive flavors, and even a novice can 
distinguish the difference between buckwheat, 
basswood, and clover honey. While we may 
have our individual preferences as to flavor, 
yet the bees seem willing to extract nectar 

S7 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

from any available source, though there are 
times when they will hardly notice any other 
flowers if they have access to bass wood. 

Ripe honey sealed in the comb seldom 
granulates unless exposed to extreme cold, as 
each cell is practically air-tight. 

Honey, pollen, and water are mixed with 
chyle, a secretion of the chyle-stomach of the 
nurse bees, and fed the worker larvae for 
about three days, when the chyle is withdrawn 
and more honey and pollen substituted. 

During the winter months and early spring, 
more or less water is secured from the conden- 
sation of moisture in the hives, but as the 
season advances the bees make frequent visits 
to neighboring streams and pools, and at times 
are so plentiful around the drinking-troughs 
of stock as to become a nuisance. 

The pollen is gathered from the various 
flowers and is carried to their homes by the 
bees in the little pollen baskets on their legs. 

In the early spring, when the bees are active 
and the pollen scarce, a good substitute can be 

38 



THE HOME OF THE BEES 

found in rye flour, and when a box containing 
a quantity of it is placed in the bee yard, it is 
astonishing to see how readily they will accept 
it and carry it away to their hives. 

The hardest work a bee has to perform is 
that of pollen-gathering, and only the strongest 
bees in the colony engage in this work, while 
others are constantly gathering propolis, 
water, and honey. The young or nurse bees 
have all they can do to feed the larvae, and 
to maintain a proper temperature of about 
ninety-eight degrees in the hive, without which 
the eggs will not hatch. About ten thousand 
bees are required in the hive to keep the in- 
cubator at work, for the hive is literally an 
incubator. The honey-gathering force of the 
hive is composed of all bees above this number, 
so the advantage of having large colonies at the 
time of the honey flow is manifest. 

Thus we have seen that the things present in 
the home of the bees are combs, honey, propo- 
lis, pollen, with a little silk used for lining the 
cells for the larvse, besides the bees and larvae. 



CHAPTER V 

THE BEE FAMILY 

XT7HATEVER the race of bees kept, we 
* ^ find at the beginning of the season 
that there are but three kinds of bees present 
in a hive, — the queen, the drones, and the 
workers. 

With very rare exceptions there is usually 
but one queen present, a limited number of 
drones for propagation, and about thirty 
thousand workers, or about six quarts of bees 
by measure. 

The queen is the mother of the entire 
colony, and under average conditions will lay 
from three thousand to five thousand eggs in 
twenty-four hours, doing her best during the 
spring and early summer. She is revered 
by the workers and tenderly cared for, not be- 
cause of any regal traits she possesses or royal 

40 



THE BEE FAMILY 

prerogatives she exercises, but rather because 
she is the sole reproducer of workers, and her 
death usually means the extinction of the 
swarm unless the workers have means of 
replacing her. Their solicitude for her is 
founded upon the law of self-preservation, 
and not because she rules them as a monarch. 

When hatched from a queen cell she is a 
virgin, and of no use in the matter of repro- 
duction until she takes her matrimonial flight, 
which usually occurs a few days after she is 
born, and mates with a drone. Many times 
a virgin is lost to a colony while seeking to be 
impregnated, as a bird may catch her in flight, 
and during her absence the bees are greatly 
agitated until she returns with evidences of 
having accomplished her purpose. The mat- 
ing occurs outside of the hive while the queen 
is on the wing, and may take place within a 
hundred yards of the hive or a mile or so away, 
the distance depending upon the presence of 
drones in the vicinity. 

If it were possible to mate our queens in the 
41 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

hive, we could in every sense control it and be 
certain that she was purely mated to a drone 
of the same race, but, the mating occurring 
in the air, somewhat remote from her hive, we 
can never be certain that she has mated 
properly until after some of her eggs have 
hatched, when the markings of the worker off- 
spring will tell the tale. 

This uncertainty has been the bane of queen- 
raisers, and to overcome it they have found 
it economy to seek out all owners of bees in a 
radius of three miles and to Italianize their colo- 
nies free of charge, by the introduction of pure 
queens, so as to be reasonably certain of the 
fact that none but pure drones are present 
in the immediate neighborhood. Again and 
again have I had a choice virgin queen mated to 
the common black drones that may be near by ; 
and as her offspring will be hybrids with more 
or less vicious dispositions, the only remedy 
has been to pinch off her head and try again. 
The presence of impure races, however, need 
not prove a serious bugbear, for in a little 
.42 



THE BEE FAMILY 

while the drones from our own apiaries will 
succeed in fertilizing the virgins from any 
common stock, until most of the neighboring 
bees will in time be of pure blood. 

When about nine days old a virgin sallies 
forth, and high in the air is mated to a drone 
who inserts an amount of seminal fluid into 
her spermatheca, and the single impregnation 
is sufficient for her lifetime, during which she 
may lay nearly half a million eggs. 

When a virgin sails forth she is usually beset 
by a large number of drones, and with these 
in pursuit she flies very rapidly, so that she is 
overtaken only by the strongest, nature thus 
insuring vigor in her offspring. 

A strange fact concerning the mating of the 
queen is that the drone usually dies immediately 
after he has accomplished his purpose, as the 
end of his existence has been fulfilled, and the 
queen returns to the hive with the male organs 
still clinging to her; these in time are either 
pulled away by the workers or else shrivel 
and dry up. 

43 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

The queen is the only perfectly developed 
female in the hive, as the workers are imper- 
fectly developed females; and though the bees 
may upon the death of the queen introduce 
a laying worker, as the head of the hive, yet 
the laying worker being imperfectly developed, 
and never having mated with a drone, will lay 
only drone eggs, so that in time the colony will 
be made up of drones and become extinct. 

Sometimes a virgin with imperfect wing 
development is not able to accomplish a mat- 
ing, and will lay nothing but drone eggs. 
This phenomenon is called parthenogenesis, 
or "generation from a virgin," and was first 
discovered by Dzierzon of Germany; it must 
be regarded as one of the most remarkable 
discoveries of science. 

In appearance the queen is very easily 
distinguished by even the novice, for while 
she is not so bulky as the drones, she has a 
body considerably more elongated than the 
workers, and is decidedly waspish-looking. 
Usually she is slow in her movements, though 

44 



THE BEE FAMILY 



she can move with astonishing rapidity, espe- 
cially when locked in a death 
struggle with a rival. She is 
constantly attended by a ret- 
inue of young bees who feed 
her from time to time, for a 
queen will in twenty-four 
hours lay more than her own 
weight in eggs, and to do 
this must be abundantly fed, 
a function carried on by her 
attendants. The reverence 
the workers have for her, 
if such it can be called, is 
due to their knowledge 
that without her presence 
in the hive the colony 
must eventually perish, as 
there will be no brood 
to develop into workers 
to take the place of the 
bees that are constantly dying off from old 
age. 

45 




Worker. 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

While the average age of a worker bee is 
about five weeks, queens have been known 
to live for a period of as many years, though 
as they grow older their powers of reproduc- 
tion grow less. When the queen shows signs 
of failing the workers will rear another to super- 
sede her, and under these conditions we often 
find two queens present for a limited time. 

The cells in which the workers rear their 
queens are entirely different in shape from those 
in which they rear their workers and drones, 
and are very similar in appearance to a peanut 
hanging from the bottom of the brood comb. 

The eggs from which the workers produce 
their queens are identically the same in char- 
acter as those from which they raise the workers, 
but being deposited in the larger queen cells, 
and being fed a more stimulative food rich in 
royal jelly, the larva is enabled to expand to 
its proper size and permit the full development 
of its ovaries. In fifteen to sixteen days from 
the time the eggs were laid the matured virgin 
emerges, and is ready for mating in a few days. 

46 



THE BEE FAMILY 

Usually a large number of cells are started 
by the workers at the swarming season. It 
must be remembered that when a swarm 
comes out seeking new quarters, the hive from 
which it emerges is left queenless for a few 
days, as the old queen accompanies the sw^arm, 
and the bees and brood that are left in the hive 
are dependent upon the hatching of one of the 
remaining queen cells for a queen. 

If but one queen cell were left and that 
should fail to hatch, the hive would be hope- 
lessly queenless, as at the time the cell should 
hatch the old queen would have been away so 
long that there would be no eggs present 
sufficiently young from which the remaining 
bees could rear another, as the egg must not 
be much over three days old to start it toward 
royalty. It is this possibility that prompts 
the bees to leave a large number of cells be- 
hind, often as many as fifty, so that provision is 
made for any emergency. 

Usually as soon as a good virgin comes 
forth, the bees will proceed to tear down the re- 

47 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

maining cells, though very frequently as many 
as a half dozen queens will hatch at nearly 
the same time, in which case the bees and the 
virgin first hatched will destroy the surplus. 

Frequently the hatching of two or more 
queens at a time will result in the emergence 
of after-swarms, a thing not to be desired, as 
these swarms are at best very small and sel- 
dom amount to much, and the best thing to do 
in such a case is to throw them back into the 
hive and let them fight it out until but one 
queen is in charge. 

About two days after mating, a queen will 
begin laying, usually in the centre of the brood 
nest, but as the season advances and the at- 
tending nurse bees increase, she will cover a 
much larger area of comb, until at times, in the 
case of a very vigorous queen, every comb will 
be more or less brooded. 

The workers which constitute the main 
population of the hive are, as we have said, 
undeveloped females, and in size are smaller 
than either the queens or drones. The eggs 

48 



THE BEE FAMILY 

from which they are reared are eggs that have 
been fertilized by a drone and are deposited 
in worker cells by the queen. These eggs 
when first laid look like a piece of cotton thread 
about a thirty-second of an inch long, and are 
attached to the bottom of the cell by a bluish 
white gelatinous secretion. 

Although at the time it is deposited the egg 
retains an upright position, on the second day 
it inclines to an angle of about forty-five 
degrees, and by the third day it lies perfectly 
flat in its cell, containing in itself the vital 
germ of life. 

On its fourth day it has developed into a 
tiny white grub, and is supplied with a suffi- 
cient amount of food, known as pap, which 
the nurse bees give to it as soon as it has devel- 
oped past the egg stage. 

The food fed to the larvae is produced by the 
chyle-stomach of the nurse bees and is liberally 
given until the third day, when less is given, 
honey and pollen being added to the mass. 

When the larva is about six days old, or 
£ 49 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

about ten days from the time the egg was 
deposited by the queen, the bees close up the 
cells with a substance made of bee bread and 
wax, which under the microscope is seen to 
be porous so as to enable the developing bee 
to secure the necessary air, and in twenty- 
one days from the time the egg was laid the 
fully developed worker bites through the cap 
of the cell, and at once heads for a cell filled 
with honey, from which she sips a liberal 
supply. In about four days she is ready for 
her duties as a nurse bee, and about two weeks 
after birth is ready to begin her work as a 
field bee. 

It is an interesting sight to watch a lot of 
young bees having a play spell in front of 
their hive. They will fly back and forth in 
front of the entrance, seldom flying more than 
three feet away, but as they become older they 
become self-reliant, and in a few days they 
may be seen returning to their homes heavily 
laden with propolis, pollen, and nectar. 

Their life is short, only about five weeks, 
50 



THE BEE FAMILY 

as they work themselves to death, and it has 
been estimated that a dessert-spoonful of honey 
represents the life-work of each field bee. 

The drones are reared from infertile eggs, 
and are the male or father bees, and during the 
early spring and breeding season are present 
in large numbers. It takes about twenty-four 
days for the drone egg to develop into a fully 
matured bee, and though the cappings to their 
cells are raised much higher than those of the 
worker cells, they are porous and made of the 
same material. 

They are in every sense of the word gentle- 
men of leisure, as all of the work of gathering 
pollen, propolis, honey, nursing the larvae, as 
well as defending the hives, devolves upon 
the workers. As sentinels the drones would 
be useless, as they have no stings, and can be 
handled with ease; it is perhaps this lack of 
defence that makes them manifest signs of 
fright when we take them in our hands. While 
the drones do no work and are large con- 
sumers of honey, yet their presence in the hive 

51 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

IS more or less beneficial, as they doubtless 
help to conserve the heat of the hive and in- 
directly aid thereby in the development of the 
brood. When flying to and from their hives 
the drones are big noisy fellows, and one unac- 
quainted with their history may be frightened 
by their buzzing, but they are perfectly harm- 
less and can be picked up and carried about, 
as they have no stings with which to defend 
themselves. 

It has not been definitely determined 
whether in laying an infertile egg from which 
springs the drone, the queen lays it through 
choice, or is compelled to owing to the in- 
creased size of the drone cell. The fact 
remains, however, that in depositing the drone 
egg, the enlarged size of the cell permits the 
queen to spread her limbs farther apart, and 
thus the egg slips out without coming in con- 
tact with the fertilizing fluid as does the 
worker egg in the case of the smaller cell, 
which compels the queen to keep her limbs 
closer together. 

52 



THE BEE FAMILY 

It is a remarkable fact that the drone is pro- 
duced from an unimpregnated egg, and even 
to this day there are many who doubt it, but 
careful experiments have proved it to be true. 
A microscopical examination of the eggs for 
worker bees reveals the fact that spermatozoa 
are always present in numbers of from one 
to five, but in the case of the drone egg, none 
are present. This fact is further proved when 
we find that laying workers incapable of 
mating will also produce drones, though such 
drones are much smaller in size than those 
produced by a queen. It may be that the size 
of the drone reared from the egg of a laying 
worker is influenced by its being laid in a 
worker cell. 

Having no stings, nor suitable proboscis 
with which to gather honey, nor baskets on 
their legs to gather and carry pollen, nor wax 
scales with which to secrete wax, nature has 
restricted them to their sole function in the 
hive; namely, the fecundation of the virgin 
queens. 

53 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

During the breeding season the drones are 
permitted to roam as they please through the 
hive and are fed a pap by the workers, who 
seem to know that the drones are needed for 
breeding purposes, but when the honey flow 
begins to show signs of ending, and especially 
in the early fall, the workers withhold from 
them the strengthening pap and drive them 
from the hives. 

It is interesting and even pathetic at this 
time to find them clustered on the bottom 
board of the hive after the workers have 
driven them from the combs and life for them 
becomes a problem. Again and again I have 
seen a little worker tugging at a big drone to 
hustle him out of the hive, and though he 
plead in the language of the bees to be re- 
admitted, the workers are inexorable in their 
decision that out he must go, for, being a heavy 
consumer of honey, and the days of his use- 
fulness over, the decree for his exclusion has 
been issued and the hand of every worker is 
turned against him. 

54 



CHAPTER VI 

HOW TO START BEE-KEEPING HIVES AND 

TOOLS TRANSFERRING BEES 

TT is a mistake to imagine that bee-keeping 
-'- can be carried on successfully in the 
remote country districts alone, for a large 
percentage of those engaged in this profitable 
and interesting work reside in suburban 
towns, and in some instances dwellers in large 
cities have successful apiaries located on the 
roofs of office buildings. 

Another popular fallacy is the idea that 
only those sections of the country are suitable 
where some specific honey-producing blossom 
abounds in large numbers, such as alfalfa, 
sweet clover, basswood, and buckwheat. 
While it is true that those beekeepers who are 
located in such favorable sections are reason- 

55 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

ably sure of a good crop of honey, in fact, of 
even obtaining record crops, yet the bees 
have such wonderful abiUty to adapt them- 
selves to almost any locality, that it is astonish- 
ing how often they produce a goodly surplus 
for their owners when there are few evidences 
of large areas devoted to the cultivation of 
those plants of which they are most fond. 

Even in the suburban districts it is sur- 
prising how much white and sweet clover are 
accessible to them, to say nothing of fruit 
blossoms and locust for the early flow. Again, 
there are many localities where the fall flow 
from goldenrod and the white and blue asters 
yields a supply that often surprises the incred- 
ulous. One of the most successful beekeepers 
in the profession, and one who for forty years 
has made bee-keeping a sole means of sup- 
port, is Dr. C. C. Miller of Marengo, Illinois, 
who has again and again declared that his 
location is really below the average, show- 
ing how a little experience will enable the 
determined man to make good. Of course, 

56 



HOW TO START BEE-KEEPING 

if one is fortunate enough to be located in the 
buckwheat region of New York state, or the 
basswood sections of the Middle West, or in 
the heart of the alfalfa ranches of Colorado, 
Utah, and California, it is an easy matter to 
make money very rapidly ; nevertheless, no 
one should be deterred from engaging in this 
interesting and profitable industry because 
he is located remote from these sources of 
supply. 

Bees are wonderfully industrious little folk, 
and if properly cared for will extract tribute 
from unheard-of sources. For three years I 
owned an apiary located on the shores of Long 
Island Sound, where the flora appeared de- 
cidedly unfavorable, yet to my surprise and 
joy the bees did remarkably well. This led 
me to a more careful survey of the country by 
which I found that there was quite an abun- 
dance of locust trees, considerable fruit bloom, 
while the lawns abounded with clover. 

While it is true that the beekeeper in the 
favored locations referred to has the advan- 

57 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

tage of being able to keep a great many hives 
in the home yard, yet the suburbanite can 
overcome this by resorting to a system of out 
apiaries, and by having two or more apiaries 
three or four miles from home be able to 
harvest crops. These out apiaries can be 
located so that they are accessible by buggy, 
trolley, or train, and the only difference in 
their management and the home yard is that 
their owner has to take a short trip to get to 
them. Indeed, the majority of large bee- 
keepers prefer a system of out apiaries, as they 
claim they get larger crops without the danger 
of overstocking the home yard. 

Having decided to get some bees, the ques- 
tion arises, "How and when shall I start .^" 

Spring is the best season of the year to begin, 
as such hives as will be purchased will not be 
heavy with honey and can be the more easily 
transported. Another advantage of starting 
m the spring is that the season is just begin- 
ning to open and the beginner will get experi- 
ence in every phase of the industry, and should 

58 



HOW TO START BEE-KEEPING 

he make mistakes, he will have ample time 
in which to remedy them before the winter 
comes on. 

It is the truest economy to purchase bees 
of a pure breed in modern hives from some 
reputable beekeeper in the neighborhood, 
and if none are located within a reasonable 
distance, there is a large number who adver- 
tise stock in the leading bee journals. 

Oftentimes it will be more convenient to 
purchase a couple of colonies in old-fashioned 
box hives from a near-by beekeeper, though a 
beekeeper who keeps his colonies in such 
makeshifts is far behind the times and must 
of necessity have to kill his faithful wards in 
order to get their honey, — poor honey it is 
at that, as it generally is stored in old combs 
along with brood and even pollen from poison- 
ous plants. These swarms can generally be 
purchased for from $1 to $2 a swarm, and all 
that is needed to put them in shape for ship- 
ping home by wagon or express is to wait 
until toward dark, when all the bees are in the 

59 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

hive, and then quickly turn it upside down 
and tack a piece of mosquito wire net over 
the bottom, making sure that no openings are 
left for bees to escape and make trouble. 

Keep the hive upside down, and in this posi- 
tion take them home or ship them by express. 
Under no circumstances allow the bottom to 
be closed up, as the bees will smother. When 
the journey is ended, by using a little smoke, 
to be described later on in this chapter, drive 
all the bees away from the screen, take it off, 
and set the hive in proper position on some 
boards or a large box. 

Do not leave the bees in the old hive, but 
send away at once to a bee supply house and 
purchase a complete hive with full sheets of 
wax foundation wired in the frames, and as 
soon as it comes transfer the bees automati- 
cally. 

The best way to transfer is to bore a large 
hole through the top of the old hive, making 
it no less than an inch in diameter, and over 
this is to be placed the new hive without its 

60 



HOW TO START BEE-KEEPING 

bottom board, but with its lid on and the 
frames all in place. Sometimes the outside 
bottom dimensions of the new hive will be 
larger than the top of the old hive, and special 
pains will have to be taken to keep the bees 
from coming out of the new hive when they 
are drummed upstairs. To prevent this it 
w411 be necessary to nail some cleats around 
the four edges of the top of the old box hive, 
or better still, take two boards and tack them 
together so that they can be set on top of the 
old box hive and project at least an inch out- 
side of the bottom of the new hive on all sides. 

With an auger bore one or two holes about 
an inch in diameter through the platform and 
old hive top near the centre, and place over 
it the new hive with its lid on, but no bottom 
board, for it must be remembered that we want 
no entrance to this double hive except the one 
at the bottom of the old box hive. Of course 
you should have your smoker going and your 
face and hands protected by veil and gloves. 

Having everything in place, puff smoke in at 
61 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

the entrance of the old hive, and with a stick 
begin to pound on its sides. 

Renew the smoke every four or five minutes, 
and keep up the drumming, and the bees will 
soon begin to go up into the new hive body, 
and in a half hour or so most of the bees will 
be up there, with the queen. 

In a few days take off the lid of the new hive, 
and if you find that many of the bees are there 
and the queen has laid her eggs in the new 
combs, give the old box another smoking and 
pounding to drive up the rest, and in about 
a half hour you are ready to remove the new 
hive from the top, containing as it does the 
queen and most of the bees. To do this 
properly and to be sure of getting all the bees, 
lift the old hive to one side and, placing the 
bottom board of the new hive on the stand 
formerly occupied by the old hive, gently lift 
the new hive, bees and all, from the top of the 
old one and place it in position on the bottom 
board on the old stand. The old hive can be 
placed to one side of the new one not more 

62 



HOW TO START BEE-KEEPING 

than two feet away, and in about a week put 
it the same distance on the other side of the 
new hive, for by doing this all the bees that 
hatch from the brood that was left in the old 
hive will enter the new one and in a matter of 
three or four weeks all of the bees from the 
old hive will have entered the new one, whose 
work will be going on without interruption. 
After the bees have been transferred, the old 
combs in the old hive can be cut out without 
angering the bees, and may be melted up for 
beeswax. This method is certainly far su- 
perior to the old-fashioned way of tearing the 
old hive to pieces, and having to cut out a 
lot of sticky old combs and piece them together 
with strings in the new frames. It also has 
the advantage of putting the bees on frames 
whose combs will all be wired and making 
them more secure in handling and extracting. 
Where the colonies are bought in modern 
hives there need be no transferring, and the 
only thing necessary to do to make them ready 
for moving will be to make a couple of frames 

63 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

of wood seven-eighths of an inch thick, cover 
them with wire netting, and nail a frame to the 
top and bottom of the hive after the lid and 
bottom board have been removed and the bees 
sent to their destination ; where with the use of 
a little smoke the net frames can be removed, 
the hive body set in position on its bottom 
board, and the lid put on. The methods for 
transferring and moving bees are identically 
the same whether one or more hives are secured. 

It is a waste of time, money, and patience 
for the beginner to attempt to make his own 
hives, as many a beekeeper has found to his 
sorrow, for the work as done by the hive manu- 
facturers is so smooth and accurate, and the 
result of so many years of experience, that 
nothing made by the novice will equal them. 
Modern hives as made by a number of supply 
houses are of the best lumber planed smooth, 
and dovetailed at the corners to prevent 
warping. 

Hives should conform to the habits of the 
bees, and there should be no more space in 

64 



HOW TO START BEE-KEEPING 

them than a bee space, or otherwise the bees 
will build brace-combs all around the frames 
and render their handling almost impossible. 




The Root Smoker. 

A. Metal projection to aid the fingers in holding bellows. 

B. Coiled wire handler. — C. Hook on back of bellows. 
D. Locked nuts. — E. Stamped metal cap. — F. Flexible 

hinge. 

to say nothing of the robbing that is sure to 
result from broken combs. 

Before we take up the matter of the hives 
to be adopted, let me speak of the tools and 
implements necessary. The first thing essen- 
F 65 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

tial is a good smoker, one that has large fuel 
capacity, and a good strong bellows. After a 
thorough test of all the smokers on the market, 
I have no hesitancy in saying I prefer the Root 
Jumbo, a cold blast smoker, as it perfectly 
meets all the requirements. A good smoker 
can be purchased for $1.25 and with proper 
care will last for years. Planer shavings, old 
rags, dried leaves, gunny bags soaked in a solu- 
tion of saltpetre and dried in the sun, rotten 
wood, and dried pieces of apple branches all 
make excellent fuel, for what we want is plenty 
of smoke with little heat, and the beginner can 
take his pick. 

I generally use planer shavings, though 
there are times when I want an enduring smoke 
I start a good fire with shavings ; when I have 
about an inch of good red embers in the smoker 
I pile in rotten wood or apple wood, and a 
couple of replenishings of the fuel are sufficient 
for all day. As the fire gets low a few puffs of 
the bellows occasionally will bring it up so 
that it is ready whenever needed. 

66 



HOW TO START BEE-KEEPING 

Another essential is a good veil, and aftei 
trying many I find that the Rauchfauss veil, 
a combination of muslin and wire net, is the 
best, as the cloth net veils seldom last over a 
season, — often not so long, — and the net may 
be blown by the wind so close to the face that 
the bees find no difficulty in stinging through it. 

The Rauchfauss veil is made of stout muslin 
and ties around the crown of the straw hat. 
There is a circle of wire netting about a foot 
wide that comes just from below the brim of the 
hat and goes all around the head, permitting 
a current of air to enter and at the same time 
keeping out all the bees. From the bottom 
edge of the wire net there is another section 
of muslin with a drawing-string, so that all 
bees are excluded at its lower edge, and thus 
making a veil that is both durable and effective. 

Such a veil can be bought for seventy-five 
cents, but can be made at home at a cost of 
about twenty-five cents. 

Another essential is a hive tool for prying off 
the hive lids, lifting out the frames, and scrap- 

67 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

ing propolis from the hives and frames, more or 
less of which is sure to be gathered by the bees. 

There are a few other conveniences for the 
apiary which, though not essential, add to the 
comforts of working with the bees. A good 
market basket with stout handle is a handy 
thing for carrying the smoker, fuel, and hive 
tool, and as soon as one thing is used and set 
aside it can be dropped into the basket, which 
will save hunting around in the grass for it 
when wanted. A good wheelbarrow is also a 
great convenience, as it saves the back when it 
comes to carrying hives either filled or empty ; 
the best one has removable sides. In prepar- 
ing yourself to work among the bees, don't fail 
to close the ends of the trouser legs by using bi- 
cycle clips or by tying them with stout cords. 

Though some of the most successful bee- 
keepers are women, there has never yet been 
given in a bee journal a satisfactory bee dress 
for them. Some have advocated male attire, 
others bloomers, things the average woman 
detests, and yet there is available for women 

68 



HOW TO START BEE-KEEPING 

one of the most satisfactory and bee-proof 
dresses imaginable, and it is as follows. 

A woman to prepare herself properly for 
work in the bee yard should first purchase a 
pair of men's overalls of proper length and in 
the bottom of each leg place a drawing-string. 

The overalls should be put on just over 
the underwear, and when they are properly 
adjusted, tie the drawing-strings tightly about 
the ankles. Over this she may put her skirt, 
and in this attire she will suffer no annoyance 
whatever from the bees and yet be properly 
dressed. The drawing-strings at the bottoms 
of the legs of the overalls will effectively 
exclude the bees that may be in the grass, 
while the waist band of the skirt will keep out 
any bees that may adhere to the overalls. 
When the work is finished in the yard the 
skirt can be lifted and any adhering bees 
brushed off before entering the house. 

After many years' experience I have found 
that by wearing a suit of white cotton material 
such as painters wear, consisting of overalls 

69 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

and jumper, I am less liable to be stung than 
when I wear dark woollen clothes. Whether 
it is because they detect the animal scent in 
the woollen goods, or have a natural aversion to 
black, I am not able to say, but I do know that 
bees are more gentle and docile when I wear 
the light suit in preference to the dark. 

I was visiting a few years ago the large api- 
ary of Mr. Alexander at Delanson, New York, 

He had a large flock of white wyandotte 
hens, which would wander all day among 
the hives, picking up drones. In the flock 
was one single black minorca hen, and strange 
to say the bees never troubled the white fowls 
at all, but again and again they would drive the 
black hen from their midst, which seemed to 
prove that they have a hatred for black. 

'*What hive shall I use.^" is a question that 
is frequently asked, and its answer is the 
question, *'What do you intend to produce, 
comb or extracted honey .^" 

If you intend to produce comb honey, by all 
means adopt a hive having a shallow brood 
70 



HOW TO START BEE-KEEPING 

nest, as the shallow brood nest compels the 
bees to put the surplus up in the supers just 
where you want it, and not so much in the 
frames of the brood nest, which they are sure 
to do with the hives of regular depth. 

The brood nest is the hive body proper, in 
which the bees rear their brood, and must 
not be confused with the super or surplus 
chambers that are put on top of it at the be- 
ginning of the honey flow. In the case of 
bees in a comb-producing hive they are win- 
tered in the brood body and the surplus supers 
are set away for the next season, as will be 
described later « At the beginning of the honey 
flow, the supers containing the little section 
boxes are set over the brood nest; each of 
these little boxes holds about a pound of 
honey, and there are usually twenty-four of 
them in a super chamber. 

If comb honey is desired, purchase the shal- 
low brood nest hive such as the Danzenbaker 
hive, or other shallow hive, of which a number 
of different kinds are on the market. Not 

71 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

less than four supers for each hive should be 
made ready for the flow. This phase of the 
subject will be more amply discussed in the 
chapter on How to Produce Comb Honey. 

There are a large number of beekeepers 
who use the deep brood bodies even when 
producing comb honey, but their numbers are 
diminishing as the advantages of the shallow 
brood nest for comb honey production are 
becoming more and more manifest. The 
ordinary hive body should be adopted if 
extracted honey is to be the object, and a hive 
containing ten frames is the standard, though 
the tendency among certain producers of 
extracted honey is toward a larger hive such 
as the twelve-frame. In any case the standard 
self-spacing frame known as the Hoffman 
frame should be adopted, as it is the easiest 
frame to handle, and is made by all manu- 
facturers of bee supplies. A careful reading of 
the catalogues of the leading supply houses will 
give the beginner much light and enable him 
to adopt the hive best suited to his purposes. 

72 



CHAPTER VII 

HOW TO QUIET AND HANDLE BEES HOW 

TO AVOID STINGS REMEDIES 

T3EES are not naturally vicious, as many 
-■-^ suppose, but on the contrary are the 
most docile of creatures if we will but conform 
to their desires, and refrain from doing those 
things that irritate them. 

Judging from the rough methods used by 
careless and ignorant beekeepers, it is sur- 
prising that stinging is not more frequent. 

I have worked with my pets day after day 
without receiving a single sting, and this is 
due, not to the popular notion that bees know 
their keeper, but rather because I know there 
are some things the bees will not tolerate, such 
as jarring their hives, or mashing bees in tak- 
ing out the frames, and it is these things I 
avoid. 

7S 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

Bees also detest the odor of a horse or 
stable, so that I am careful to wash my hands 
thoroughly and change my clothing after 
driving a horse, and such a simple matter as 
this has wrought a remarkable change in the 
temper of the bees. I must confess that there 
have been times when in my eagerness to rush 
the work I have been careless, and in every 
instance the result has been a number of 
stings, but it has been entirely my own fault. 

The ease with which some beekeepers open 
their hives and work among the bees has led 
a great many people to suppose that there 
was an acquaintance between the beekeeper 
and his pets, but there is absolutely no truth 
whatever in this belief. It seems strange, 
but somehow the confident and fearless man- 
ner in which the experienced beekeeper goes 
among the bees seems to awe them, whereas 
a timid person by his every move seems to 
make the bees aware of the fact that he fears 
them, and they are not slow to act when once 
this notion possesses them. 

74 



HOW TO QUIET AND HANDLE BEES 

The avoidance of stings, a thing greatly 
sought even by the veteran beekeeper, is 
largely a matter of care and the moderate use 
of the smoker. 

The fear of smoke seems to be inbred in the 
bees, and the most savage of them are quickly 
subdued when given a whiff of it. It is not 
necessary to overwhelm them with it until 
they are completely dazed, but just enough to 
let them know that they are mastered, a lesson 
that they soon learn. Bees are easily fright- 
ened, and a little smoke blown in at the en- 
trances of their hives, supplemented with a 
pounding on the lids, makes them panic-stricken 
and causes them to gorge themselves with honey, 
and it is this condition that renders them easy 
of manipulation. It is a physical impossibil- 
ity for a bee to sting when it is full of honey, 
and this accounts for the easy manner in which 
they can be handled when they have swarmed. 
In order to sting, a bee must be able to bend its 
abdomen, and when it is filled with honey as 
it is at the time of swarming, and also when 

75 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

alarmed with smoke, it will be readily seen 
how easy it is even to handle them roughly 
at such a time. 

Again, bees are more easily handled about 
the noon hour than earlier or later in the day, 
and that is because at this time of the day 
the old field bees are either abroad in the fields, 
or, if present in the hive, they are so loaded 
with the nectar they have brought in that they 
could not sting if they would. 

The young bees for some reason are not 
given to stinging like the old ones, and can be 
handled and even abused without showing 
any signs of resentment. 

Now that we have put on our veil and gloves 
and have the smoker well started, let us pro- 
ceed to open a hive in a proper manner. 
Going to our first hive, we send in a couple of 
whiffs of smoke at the entrance, at the same 
time pounding a few times on the lid of the 
hive. We next take the hive tool and gently 
pry off the lid about one quarter of an inch and 
puff a little smoke in at the top, and drop it 

76 



HOW TO QUIET AND HANDLE BEES 

back in place for two or three minutes to give 
the bees time in which to fill up. I have fre- 
quently seen beekeepers who ought to have 
known better send a whiff of smoke in at the 
entrance, and, jerking the lid from the hive, 
send great volumes of smoke down over the 
frames and drive a horde of angry bees out of 
the hive in the proper frame of mind to sting 
most viciously. Had they sent just a puff or 
two of smoke in at the entrance and then a 
little under the lid and waited a minute or so, 
every bee would have been subdued and no 
stinging would have resulted. There are cer- 
tain times in the season, when honey is coming 
in rapidly, when no smoke at all is necessary, 
and in such a case it is foolish to use it, as too 
much of it means a consumption of honey. 

Lifting our lid we now find the bees as quiet 
as can be, and, supposing we want to find the 
queen, we with the aid of the hive tool pry 
apart a frame, for in all likelihood the frames 
are more or less glued together with propolis. 

Using the hook end of the tool, we lift a 
77 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

frame from the brood nest with all adhering 
bees, and as the bees, if Italians, are very 
quiet, we can take our time in looking for the 
queen, for she is not hard to find. If she is 
not on the first frame, place it end up on the 
grass, letting it rest against the side of the hive 
while we remove another and look for her on it. 

It may take a little more time to be careful 
so as not to mash any bees, and incidentally 
we might say that careless and too rapid 
handling not only mashes worker bees but 
often results in crushing a valuable queen; 
but in the end carefulness pays, as it makes 
the bees more gentle, and the next time we 
open their hives they seem to know that we 
mean them no harm. 

One day I was examining a colony to find 
its queen in such a hurry that I mashed a 
number of bees, with the result that the 
colony was thrown into an uproar, and for 
days afterward every time I passed the hive 
the bees would rush out to sting me, while 
usually it was the gentlest colony in the yard. 

78 



HOW TO QUIET AND HANDLE BEES 

There is more danger of mashing bees when 
putting back the frames than when removing 
them; but a little time will enable us to ac- 
complish it perfectly, and then working among 
our bees will be a positive delight. 

If there are several colonies to be examined, 
it is a good plan to go down the line and smoke 
several of them before opening them, and by 
the time we get to the last one in the line we 
will find the first in splendid temper. 

It may take the novice a couple of weeks 
to gain confidence in himself, but after he has 
learned the knack of the thing, as he will in an 
incredibly short time by actual work among 
the bees, he will be able to look through as 
many as forty or fifty hives in a single after- 
noon without slighting any. 

As the beginner gains confidence he will 
discard his gloves, as he will find that in cer- 
tain kinds of work, such as queen-raising, 
where eggs are to be grafted, etc., he can 
work much better barehanded than otherwise. 
He must not be surprised, however, if his 

78 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

hands should receive an occasional sting, 
and the first few stings may cause a slight 
swelling; but, as his system becomes used to 
the poison, in time the stings will cause no 
swelling at all, and the only inconvenience is 
the slight pain, which after all is no more than 
that caused by a pin prick. 

I have on rare occasions when working 
without a veil been stung under the eye, and 
it was quite painful for a minute or two, and 
although the eye closed up for a matter of 
twelve hours, the real pain was during the 
few minutes immediately following the sting. 

The poison of the bee sting is formic acid. 
When the little bee injects its sting into our 
flesh, it usually in its endeavor to get away 
leaves the sting with its poison sac, and it 
is an easy matter to scrape it out. Never 
try to pull it out with the thumb and index 
finger, for in so doing you are sure to squeeze 
all of the poison out of the poison sac into the 
flesh and cause greater pain and swelling in 
the part stung, but take the sharp edge of the 



HOW TO QUIET AND HANDLE BEES 

hive tool or the blade of a penknife, and if 
these are not handy use the thumb nail and 
scrape the sting out, and in a few minutes the 
pain will cease. 

If, however, you find at the beginning that 
the part is swelling considerably, just pour a 
little household ammonia over it, and when 
your work among the bees is done soak a 
cloth in cold water and lay it over the spot, 
and in a short time the pain and swelling will 
be a thing of the past. 

The gloves that are used are made of heavy 
muslin and treated with oil, having long 
gauntlets, that come well up over the arms 
and are described in the catalogues of the 
various supply houses. 

Sometimes a bee or two will follow the 
beekeeper all over the yard and manifest 
every determination to sting as soon as there 
offers an opening. The only thing to do in 
such a case is to get a shingle or flat piece 
of wood and *'swat" him. I carry a paddle 
in my basket for just such fellows. 
o 81 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

Be quiet in your movements, and manifest 
no signs of alarm, and the bees will soon learn 
that you are not afraid of them and will let 
you go your way in peace. If you are stung, 
then take my word for it that it is not nearly 
as painful or serious as is imagined, and not 
to be compared with the sting of the yellow 
jacket or hornet. There may be some satis- 
faction in the knowledge that the poor little 
bee pays its life as the forfeit for stinging, as 
it usually dies shortly after losing its sting. 
It may be well, however, that they do sting, 
as it is a guarantee that the business of bee- 
keeping will never be overdone, and it also 
protects our hives from meddlers, both two- 
and four-footed ones. 



CHAPTER VIII 

WHY BEES SWARM HOW TO HIVE A SWARM 

HOW TO CONTROL SWARMING 

A LL insects have some natural means of 
-*--^ reproducing themselves, and bees are 
no exception to the rule, their method being 
that of swarming. While swarming may be 
a perfectly natural act on their part, it cannot 
be said that beekeepers generally view it with 
any degree of pleasure, especially when they 
consider the possibility of losing valuable 
swarms that may emerge in their absence, 
which means a distinct loss of the entire work- 
ing force of the hive and a consequent loss of 
honey. 

Swarming usually occurs during the months 
of May and June, though they will frequently 
come out earlier and later than this, owing 

83 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

to the season, and the reasons for swarming 
are as follows. Brood is present in large 
numbers in the hive, the blossoms in the field 
are yielding up a heavy tribute of nectar, and 
under these conditions the colony becomes 
overcrowded and makes preparations to 
decamp. An examination of the brood nest 
just before a colony swarms shows us prac- 
tically every cell occupied with honey, pollen, 
and brood, and, realizing that no further work 
can be done in such crowded quarters, the 
colony decides that it is time to seek another 
home. In some mysterious way this idea is 
passed from one bee to another until all obey 
it. 

Fortunately for the beekeeper, however, 
the colony usually gives some premonitory 
signs of its intention to swarm, and these if 
heeded will enable one to head them off and 
in many cases break up the fever entirely. 

Often for several days before swarming the 
bees will cluster in large numbers on the front 
of the hive, and an examination of the brood 

84 



WHY BEES SWARM 

nest will reveal the presence of queen cells, 
and it is by taking advantage of these signs 
we can often prevent swarming by giving 
enlarged storage room. If we fail to fore- 
stall them, then we may look for a swarm to 
come forth some beautiful day in May or 
June, and the way the bees will come boiling 
out of the hive is a revelation to the tyro. Out 
they come literally by the thousands until the 
air is filled with them and their roar can be 
heard at a considerable distance. 

The swarm is not, as is popularly supposed, 
made up of young bees, but is composed prin- 
cipally of the old bees and the old queen, and 
with the exception of the time she flies as a 
virgin to be mated, this is the only time that 
her majesty comes forth. 

For several minutes the swarm will swirl 
about in the air, and with rare exceptions, will 
in a short time begin to cluster on the branch 
of a tree, and often at an inaccessible height, 
and will hang there probably for an extended 
period. 

85 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

The safest plan, however, is to hive the swarm 
as quickly as possible, for in all likelihood they 
have sent out their scouts to find a congenial 
home in the heart of an old tree or under the 
weatherboards of a house, and in some cases 
they often have their objective point picked 
out days in advance, and unless hived will 
eventually go away. 

In the majority of cases the swarm will 
cluster on the lower limb of a tree or on a 
bush, and in fact I have had them cluster on a 
post, but in any case they are easily removed, 
and that without attendant danger of one's 
being stung, as every bee has filled its stomach 
with honey, realizing that it will be needed 
to build their combs within their new home, 
and it is this condition that renders them 
largely incapable of stinging, as they cannot 
bend the abdomen to do so. 

If you are wise, you will have had your 
empty hive body with its frames of full foun- 
dation all ready for just such an emergency, 
and as soon as the swarm comes forth it will 

86 



WHY BEES SWARM 

be the easiest thing in the world to set the hive 
in place, and if the swarm is on a tree or 
shrub, the branch to which they cling can 
be cut or sawed off and the swarm shaken in 
front of the empty hive, which they will be 
glad enough to enter. 

If the swarm has clustered on a tree that 
you consider too valuable to cut, or on a 
fence or post, then take the new hive and place 
it under the cluster and shake the bees in 
front of it; or if on a post, brush them down 
with a brush or whisk broom, both of which are 
made for the purpose, and in a few minutes 
all of the bees will enter the hive. 

Let them remain there until toward evening, 
when the hive can be gently lifted and placed 
on its permanent stand; and in the morning 
you will find that they have their sentinels 
posted, with the field bees going and coming 
to and from the fields. 

In a few days one or more of the queen cells 
in the old hive will bring forth a virgin who 
in time will become mated, and thus you will 

87 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

have two full colonies, each with a queen at 
its head. 

Do not fail, however, to examine the old hive 
in about ten days and make certain that the 
virgin has mated, which can be quickly told 
by the presence of young eggs in the cells, 
and if for any reason she should have become 
lost in her matrimonial flight, give them an- 
other that you have reared or secured from 
some reputable breeder. The method of 
introducing her will be treated under the 
chapter on Queen Rearing. 

It will occasionally happen that when one 
or more virgins hatch at the same time an 
after-swarm will also emerge, but as these are 
very small, and incapable of doing much in the 
way of building up for the winter, it is best 
to throw them back into the hive from which 
they emerged, and let the surplus virgins fight 
it out to the survival of the fittest. 

The professional beekeeper looks upon 
natural swarming as a nuisance, especially 
if he is running a system of outyards, for it 

88 



WHY BEES SWARM 

often happens that swarms will come out 
when he is not there to attend to them, and it 
seldom pays to keep a man watching for them. 

This has led to a long-expressed desire for 
a race of non-swarming bees, but no such 
race is in sight, and beekeepers generally 
have taken up the next best thing, namely, 
preventive measures. 

The dangers of losses from swarming have 
led a majority of beekeepers to devote their 
yards to the production of extracted honey, 
as by this plan the honey can be extracted as 
soon as the combs are nearly filled, and thus 
additional room can be given to the bees. 

When the apiary is devoted to the produc- 
tion of comb honey, the problem becomes more 
serious, as the combs must of necessity be left 
on the hives until entirely sealed over, or else 
they will not be salable, and leaving them to 
be sealed impels the bees to swarm. To 
overcome this, a new plan was tried out some 
few years ago, and generally it has resulted 
in practically a complete control of swarming, 

89 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

even when the bees are kept for comb honey; 
it is known as the "Shook Swarm Plan." 

About four days before the swarm is ready 
to come forth, — and their purpose can easily 
be told by the presence of queen cells and the 
actions of the bees, — the beekeeper lifts the 
hive to one side, say two feet, and in its place 
puts a new or empty hive in the frames of 
which only starter strips have been placed, 
not full sheets; and then lifting the frames 
from the hive about to swarm, all or nearly all 
of the bees are shaken at the entrance of the 
new hive, being sure of course to shake the 
queen. In some cases it may be best to put 
a queen-excluding piece of perforated zinc 
between the hive body of the new hive and its 
supers to restrict the queen to the lower 
chamber, and then the surplus bodies are 
removed from the old hive, bees and all, and 
placed on top of the new hive, as it would be 
the height of folly to leave them on the original 
hive, as the working force will be in the new hive. 

T^ie question arises, What is to become of 
90 



i 



WHY BEES SWARM 

the old hive with its brood and few remain- 
ing bees? and the answer is that it can be left 
beside the new hive until its brood has hatched, 
when the bees can be shaken in with the bees 
in the new hive, and the combs can be re- 
moved and such honey as remains in them ex- 
tracted, and the combs cut out and rendered 
into beeswax. It will be well in cutting out 
the combs to leave a strip of comb about an 
inch wide at the top of the frames, as such 
frames the following season will have starters 
of comb instead of foundation for colonies 
that may be shaken on them. By shaking 
the bees on starters only, we compel them to 
rush their honey up into the supers just where 
we want it, as they have no storage room below 
until the frames are filled with comb. Sel- 
dom will a colony swarm after it has been 
treated in this way, and this method has this 
apparent advantage over all others, namely, 
that the beekeeper swarms his bees at his own 
convenience and does away with all possi- 
bility of absconding swarms. 

91 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

Some men have said that the reason that 
the swarm shaken into the new hive seldom 
swarms again is because it has had the swarm- 
ing impulse satisfied by being run into a new 
hive like a natural swarm, but the real reason 
is that a colony of bees will seldom desert a hive 
until it is completely filled with combs in the 
brood nest, and by the time the swarm will 
have filled its combs the honey flow is usually 
over and the cause of swarming a thing of the 
past. 

There have been advertised from time to 
time a lot of automatic hivers, but he who 
invests his money in them but illustrates the 
old adage that "the fool and his money are 
soon parted." It is a good thing to go over 
the apiary and clip the wings of every queen 
after she has mated and has begun to lay; 
this will save many a swarm, as a swarm will 
never run off without its queen. If a swarm 
should come out with a clipped queen, it may 
cluster on a near-by tree, while the queen in her 
inability to fly will be found hopping about 



WHY BEES SWARM 

in the grass in her endeavor to join the swarm, 
and can be picked up with the bare fingers, 
as she will not sting, and removed to the house. 
A new hive being placed on the stand occupied 
by the one from which the swarm emerged, and 
the old swarm having returned and ^entered 
the new hive, the queen can be thrown in at 
the entrance; thus the hive swarm is hived 
without the owner having to handle it at all. 

The "shook swarm" plan insures the bee- 
keeper an abundance of beeswax after the 
combs have been rendered, and as this can be 
exchanged for sheets of foundation, it is an 
item worth considering. 

The late Captain Hetherington of Cherry 
Valley, N.Y., one of the most extensive keepers 
of bees in his day, whose apiaries, scattered all 
over the country, numbered as many as three 
thousand colonies, had a plan of swarm control 
that he found satisfactory: the removal or 
caging of the queen during the swarming 
season. Some beemen contended that a 
swarm would not work as well with its queen 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

removed or caged as one whose queen was 
present, to say nothing of the loss of brood 
during the period that the queen was caged, 
but the captain met this by the statement 
that any eggs she might lay would be so long 
in developing that the flow would be over 
before they were field bees. 

The old-fashioned practice of ringing bells 
and banging on tin pans to cause a swarm to 
alight is really laughable, and as a matter of 
fact had no influence on the swarm whatever. 
That they did soon alight was only a coin- 
cidence, as they would sooner or later have 
done so. It has been said that the custom 
dates back to the days of Alfred the Great 
of England, who, in order to stop the disputes 
among his subjects as to the ownership of 
swarms that came forth, decreed that when 
a man's bees swarmed, he should ring a bell 
or make some other noise to notify his neigh- 
bors that the swarm was his. Another amus- 
ing custom still in vogue in some parts is the 
placing of empty hives in the woods as decoys 

94 



WHY BEES SWARM 

for swarms to enter, and some have even 
resorted to the ridiculous practice of placing 
little red flags on top of them to flag the pass- 
ing swarm and notify them that a welcome 
home awaits them. While it is true that a 
swarm has on rare occasion taken possession 
of some of these hives, yet it was a mere coin- 
cidence, and the flag, or the sprinkling of the 
hives with anise oil, had nothing whatever to 
do with it. 

Before leaving the subject of swarming, it 
will be well to state that shade boards placed 
over a hive, and an extra current of air given 
them by elevating the entrance of the hive 
will be important factors in swarm control, 
but often, in spite of all that can be done, a 
swarm will come forth when the fever pos- 
sesses them, and the only thing to do is to 
accept the situation philosophically and get 
them into a modern hive as soon as possible. 

The proportion of swarming in comb honey 
production as compared with that of produc- 
ing extracted honey is about two to one where 

95 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

the "shook swarm" plan is not practised, as 
the free use of the extractor enables the bee- 
keeper to remove the honey from the combs 
and give the colony additional storage room 
before the bees feel that they are crowded. 



98 



CHAPTER IX 

RAISING QUEEN BEES HOW TO INTRODUCE 

A QUEEN 

XN the keeping of bees, there are many 
-*- occasions when extra queens are re- 
quired, notably when colonies from one cause 
or another become queenless, or when in- 
crease is made, and the general practice is to 
send away to a queen-breeder for the same. 
While in the majority of cases queens arrive 
in good condition, and apparently none the 
worse for their journey, yet some beemen have 
contended that the queen is hurt more or less 
from her journey and is not as good as before. 
Again, it costs a considerable sum to buy 
queens, especially if a large number are re- 
quired, and, as they can be raised at home 
at a ridiculously low figure, the matter of ex- 
pense has induced an ever increasing number 
H 97 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

of beekeepers to rear their own queens, as 
they are able to breed from only their best 
specimens, whose offspring have shown re- 
markable qualities of gentleness, and are great 
honey -gatherers. With the advent of a number 
of new systems of queen-rearing, which will be 
explained, one can easily see that this part of 
the profession is not so mysterious as some will 
suppose, and with a little experience the novice 
will soon be able to raise as good queens as the 
professional breeder, and not be compelled to 
pay from $1 to $3 apiece for them. 

If left to follow their own natural impulses, 
the bees would build only a limited number of 
cells at the swarming time, but by the use of 
a few simple and inexpensive appliances, the 
beekeeper is able to rear them in almost un- 
limited numbers and thus always have them 
at hand when needed. 

It is a known fact that in the breeding of all 
kinds of stock, the quality can be greatly 
improved by selection and restriction in the 
specimens that are to reproduce their kind, 



RAISING QUEEN BEES 

and bees are no exception to the rule. By 
breeding queens only from best mothers, the 
beekeeper will be able in a short time to secure 
a strain of bees in his apiaries that will be 
marvels of gentleness, to say nothing of gather- 
ing record crops of honey. 

A good many apiarists advocate the re- 
queening of all colonies with young queens of 
the season's breeding, as this insures every 
colony beginning the next season with vigor- 
ous young queens able to produce a large 
amount of brood, and such colonies are not 
so liable to swarm as those with old queens at 
their head. 

There are three natural conditions under 
which colonies will of themselves raise queens, 
such as : at the time of swarming, when made 
queenless, and when about to supersede an 
old queen that is worn out. When about to 
swarm, the bees will begin to build a number 
of queen cells, usually at the bottoms of the 
combs, and in many instances the queen will 
deposit eggs in them for this purpose. While 

99 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

these cells are of the very best, yet the fact 
that they have to be cut out of the combs in 
order to isolate them in cages, has led to the 
adoption of little wooden cups in which eggs 
are grafted by the beekeeper, by which means 
they can the more easily be handled without 
the danger of injuring their occupants, as will 
be described later. 

When a queen begins to show signs of fail- 
ing through old age or injury, the colony will 
at once begin to build cells, and when the 
young queen begins to lay, the bees will usually 
kill the old one. If a colony has its queen 
taken from them, or should she be killed 
through the careless handling of the frames 
by the beekeeper, the colony will also build 
cells in order to replace her, and under the 
conditions outlined above will build from five 
to fifteen cells, though in the case of Carnio- 
lans and Cyprians colonies will often build as 
many as fifty cells at a time. While the cells 
reared by the bees under normal conditions 
are the very best, yet their production is 

100 



RAISING QUEEN BEES 

uncertain, and does not always occur when the 
beekeeper needs them, and this has led to the 
almost universal adoption of artificial methods. 
As far as is known, such queens are equal to 
those reared at the pleasure of the colony. 




Nursery case for queens and virgins. 

Perhaps the best system in vogue is the 
Swarthmore System, originated by the late 
E. R. Pratt of Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, 
and, with the few inexpensive appliances pur- 
chasable at almost any supply house, one can 
raise as many queens as are needed. This 
system requires a number of little wooden 

101 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

cell cups which are filled with melted beeswax, 
and with a small hand press made for the 
purpose, the rudimentary of the queen cell 
is made. 

Into each one of these little cell cups a 
larva must be placed, and a small piece of 
wire is made for this purpose. 

While a colony will accept these little cells, 
and supply the larvae with the necessary food, 
yet it is best to make a colony queenless 
several days before the larvae are grafted, and 
from the natural cells a small quantity of the 
royal jelly can be placed in each wooden cup 
with the grafted larvae, as the bees more 
readily start on such cells than on those that 
are not so supplied. 

The larva is taken from the worker cells 
of the colony from whose queen you desire to 
rear queens, and must be not more than about 
three days old, as such larvae alone can be 
depended upon for good queens. If you 
secure a larva that is only a day old, so much 
the better, and in lifting it from the worker 

102 



RAISING QUEEN BEES 

cell in the comb to the artificial cup, use great 
care not to bruise it, as it is very tender. The 
age of the larva can be easily determined by 
its size, and the smaller it is the better. 

Before you are ready to graft cells, make 
your swarm box ready ; the Swarthmore 
swarm box is a box that has the bottom side 
covered with wire gauze and holds just five 
frames of comb. About ten o'clock in the 
morning, go to some strong colony, and, hav- 
ing previously placed in the box three combs 
filled with honey and pollen, but no brood, 
lift the lid from the box and shake into it the 
bees from three or four frames taken from the 
strong colony, put the lid on securely, and 
stop the entrance with a large cork or piece 
of wood. Remove the box, bees and all, to 
the house, and place it in a dark, quiet place, 
moderately warm, and wait until about four 
o'clock in the afternoon before you begin to 
graft the larvae. 

During this time the imprisoned bees will 
discover that they are hopelessly queenless, 

103 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 



as there is no brood present from which thej 
can raise one, and it is this condition that in- 
duces them to accept the queen cups you give 
them and work on them at once. 

The top of the swarm box is so cut out that 
a couple of cell bars are 
fitted to it, and in each 
of these bars are sixteen 
little waxed cups which 
close the holes, and in 
which you will place the 
transferred larvae, about 
four o'clock. At four 
o'clock, go to some col- 
ony whose queen is a 
choice one and lift out 
a frame that has a lot 
of larvae not over three 
days old, shake off all the bees, and carry it to 
the house. See that the room in which you are 
to do the grafting is heated to at least eighty 
degrees so as not to chill the larvae when grafted. 
Lift out one of the cell cups and place a dummy 

104 




Lifting larva out of 
worker cell. 



RAISING QUEEN BEES 

cell cup in the hole it occupied in the cell bar. 
Cutting open a cell taken from the colony that 
was made queenless to rear them, transfer a little 
royal jelly to the base of the artificial cell, stir 
it a trifle with the little metal spoon, and then 
with the wire grafting needle, gently lift a 
tiny grub or larva from the frame of the brood 
at hand, place it in the bottom of the cup right 
in the midst of the royal jelly, and put it in the 
hole occupied by the dummy cup. Proceed 
in like manner with the other cups, and when 
all have been attended to, the frame of the 
brood can be returned to the colony from which 
it was taken. 

Now cover the swarm box with a blanket 
for warmth, and leave it in a warm room until 
the following morning, and when, on the 
morrow, you lift out a cup to examine it, you 
will be surprised to find that the imprisoned 
bees will have accepted the majority of larvae 
given them and will have fed them liberal 
allowances of royal jelly, and will have built 
down the cell to nearly an inch in length. 

105 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

As soon as the little cells have been started, 
they should be given to some strong colony 
to complete. Formerly, the custom was to 
make a colony queenless before grafting cells, 
and to give the started cells to that colony to 
complete, but since we now have the little 
incubating cages, and perforated zinc queen- 
excluders, we are able to give the started cells 
to a queenright colony for completion, as the 
zinc allows the workers free access to the cells, 
and at the same time excludes the queen from 
destroying them. If your colonies are occupy- 
ing but one body for the brood nest, it will be 
necessary to use a holding frame fitted with an 
incubating cage in its top; this frame can be 
placed in the centre of any strong colony hav- 
ing a queen, the cell bar holding sixteen of the 
started cells can be slipped into the top of the 
cage, and the frame put in place in a strong 
colony. In about ten days the cells will be 
all sealed over and ready to be transferred to 
individual cages in which each virgin will 
hatch by herself and be safe from being de* 

106 



RAISING QUEEN BEES 

stroyed, as would be the case if they were ah 
permitted to hatch in one compartment. If 
the colony to which the cells have been given 
for completion is a strong one, and is occupy- 
ing two brood bodies one above the other, it 
will be a very simple matter to place the queen 
down in the lower brood body, and between 
it and the upper story a queen-excluding zinc, 
which keeps her below; in this case as many 
as three bars of ceils can be given to the upper 
story, each bar being put in the holding frame 
without the incubator cage. 

When the cells are about twelve days old 
from the time the egg was laid, remove them, 
and put each one by itself in one of the little 
nursery cages. As many as forty-eight of these 
little cages can be secured firmly in an empty 
frame, and the frame given back to the strong 
colony to keep warm until the virgin queens 
shall hatch, which will be in sixteen days 
from the time the eggs were laid. 

There is a little compartment in each of the 
nursery cages in which should be placed a 

107 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

small quantity of candy made from mixing 
pulverized sugar with honey until it makes a 
stiff dough, so that the virgins will be pro- 
vided with food when they emerge, in case the 
bees refuse to feed them through the wire net- 
ting, which they often do. 

After the cells are completed, the only thing 
the bees do for the cell is to maintain the 
proper temperature of about ninety-eight 
degrees, and again and again I have hatched 
choice queens in an ordinary chicken incubator 
by keeping it at the required temperature. 
The cells taken care of by the bees, however, 
show a larger percentage of hatch, as the bees 
will gnaw the ends of the cells given to their 
care until they are as thin as paper, which is 
a great aid to the virgin in getting out. 

Going back to the time of taking the cells 
from the swarm box, after the cells are re- 
moved, the imprisoned bees can be shaken 
at the entrance of the hive from which they 
were taken, and they are glad indeed to join 
their fellows. By the Doolittle Method, the 

108 



RAISING QUEEN BEES 

breeder has to make his own cells by dipping 
a wooden rake tooth in melted wax, and stick- 
ing it to a bar of wood with more or less dan- 
ger of its becoming detached, and it is difficult 
to handle such cells individually. 

The Swarthmore System is superior to 
either the Alley or the Doolittle System, as 
they compel the queen-rearer to permit the 
bees to start the cells on a strip of brood comb 
under the Alley Method, and the objection to 
this is that there is more or less risk in injur- 
ing the queens when cutting the cells from 
the combs, to say nothing of the nuisance of 
having each cell all ragged at its top in han- 
dhng. 

The Swarthmore plan has every advantage, 
as each cell is fastened in a little wooden 
cup, and can even be handled roughly without 
fear of injury, and as for cell-starting, it is 
more convenient than any other system. 

Now that your virgins have been hatched, 
the next thing is to mate them, and the small 
mating-box does this effectually, and does 

109 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

away with the old method of having to use a 
full colony for each queen mated. Virgins 
may be given to a queenless colony and 
allowed to mate from them, but great care 
will have to be exercised in introducing them, 
as a colony will not accept them as readily as a 
queen that has mated and begun to lay. 
Then again if the beekeeper is rearing queens 
with which to supply the trade, the demand 
is for mated and laying queens, and it becomes 
a necessity to have them mated before being 
sold. 

The best mating-box is the Root twin 
mating-box, which is so divided in the centre 
that each compartment contains two small 
combs that have been built in a strong colony; 
and as there are two small entrances to the 
box, each little nucleus of bees has the spirit of 
a colony. 

When the virgins have hatched, take the 
small mating-boxes to a strong colony, and into 
each compartment of the mating-box brush 
about a teacupful of bees, being careful not to 

110 



RAISING QUEEN BEES 

secure the queen; securely close the entrance 
of each compartment and remove the im- 
prisoned bees to a shady place. About four 
in the afternoon run a virgin in at the entrance 
to each compartment, and if the bees were 
shaken in about ten o'clock in the morning, 
fully realizing their queenlessness, they will 
gladly accept her. Toward night, the en- 
trance can be opened, and in the morning you 
will find that the miniature colony will have 
the spirit of a full colony, with their sentinels 
posted at the tiny entrance. In a few days 
the virgin will fly from this box and mate, and 
when you find that she has begun to lay, she 
can be used or sold as an untested queen. 

An untested queen is one that has mated 
and begun to lay, and can be sold as a tested 
queen only after she has been kept laying long 
enough for some of her eggs to have hatched ; 
and if the young bees prove by their markings 
that their mother has been purely mated, then 
she can be said to be a tested queen. 

These little nuclei need encouraging, and 
111 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

it will be necessary to feed them a small 
quantity of syrup every other day in the little 
feeders that are a part of the hive. The 
syrup should be made of equal parts of hot 
water and granulated sugar. 

Many queen-rearers, when they put a vir- 
gin into the mating-boxes, also put another 




A queen's egg under the microscope. 

in on its floor, imprisoned in its nursery cage 
so that it soon acquires the odor of the little 
nucleus. When the first virgin has mated 
and is removed, the caged virgin can be liber- 
ated at once, for the bees will accept her, as 
she iiias the proper odor. This procedure 
can be carried on all through the season, a 
caged virgin being placed in each compart- 
ment as soon as a mated queen is sold and 
another virgin liberated. 

112 



RAISING QUEEN BEES 

At the close of the season these little swarms 
can be brushed into some weak colony that 
has been well smoked, or several of them can 
be united and given to a queenless colony and 
a queen provided, and the little boxes set 
away for use the following year. 

Just a word of caution : Don't begin queen 
rearing too early in the season, or else you will 
fail. Wait until fruit bloom, when the weather 
is warm and the bees are flying nicely, and 
if you should need queens for your own use 
before it is time to rear them, remember that 
the better plan is to secure them by mail from 
some southern breeder whose warmer climate 
enables him to start breeding before it is possi- 
ble in the North. 

The next thing is to introduce a queen to a 
colony that needs one, and whether the queen 
to be introduced is one of your own raising or 
has come by mail from a distant breeder, the 
method is the same. The queen to be intro- 
duced is enclosed in a small introducing or 
mailing cage, and one end of the cage is filled 
I 113 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

with the honey dough previously described. 
Open the hive to which she is to be introduced, 
and after tearing away the little piece of wire 
or paper that covers the hole to the compart- 
ment where the dough is stored, pry apart a 
couple of frames in the centre of the queenless 
colony and slip the cage with the queen in it 
down between them with the candy side down, 
and leave the colony undisturbed for three or 
four days. 

During this time the queen will be acquir- 
ing the odor of the colony, and the wall of 
candy will prevent the bees from getting at her 
to kill her, which they would do if they could 
the first day or so, but by the time the bees 
have eaten their way through to her and 
made a passage for her to get out, she will 
usually have become so impregnated with the 
odor of the colony that they will accept her. 

In rare cases, however, they will destroy her, 
and sometimes even if they do not do this, they 
are sullen about accepting her, and will upon 
your opening the hive "ball her," in which case 

114 



RAISING QUEEN BEES 

you will find a large ball of angry bees, try* 
ing to kill her; but this can be broken up at 
once by filling the smoker with tobacco and 
sending clouds of tobacco smoke through the 
hive and at the cluster, and this seems to have 
the effect of making them all smell alike, thus 
averting all further trouble. 

Every colony has its distinctive odor, and 
it is by this the bees recognize each other, as 
well as their queen, and the reason we cannot 
liberate a strange queen at once is that she has 
an odor from the hive or mating box from 
which she was taken; for this reason we are 
compelled to let her hang in the colony to 
which she is introduced for a few days until 
she has the odor of her new home. It may 
seem strange, but you can take a laying queen 
from her bees and hold her in your hand for 
a few minutes, and, when you will put her 
back in her regular hive the bees will ball her 
at once, thinking she is a strange queen simply 
because of her contact with your hand, and 
the odor she derives from it. 

115 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

Whether you keep few colonies or many, 
make it a point to raise some queens if only 
for the fun of the thing, for it is intensely in- 
teresting work; and should you need a large 
number of queens as your colonies increase, it 
will prove a considerable saving to raise them 
yourself. 

Those of us who keep a large number of 
colonies know that every year or so we find 
that we have a queen of rare worth, whose off- 
spring are beautifully marked, remarkably 
gentle, and as honey -gatherers are hustlers, and 
it pays to breed from this queen, and in time 
make all the bees of this strain. 



116 



CHAPTER X 

HOW TO PRODUCE COMB HONEY 

XT ONE Y is marketed in two forms, either 
-*— *- as comb honey, in the individual one- 
pound sections in which the bees store it, or 
as extracted honey, this being extracted from 
the large brood combs used in an upper story 
above the brood nest, the queen being pre- 
vented from laying her eggs in the extracting- 
combs by means of a perforated zinc board, 
which confines her below, at the same time 
giving the workers access to them for storing. 
Whether the beekeeper proposes to produce 
comb or extracted honey, it is very neces- 
sary that the colonies shall be strong at the 
time of the honey flow, and this can only be 
brought about by seeing that every colony 
put into winter quarters is strong, supplied 
with ample stores, and, if wintered outdoors, 
is fully protected. 

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HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

When the old-fashioned box hives were the 
thing, the principal way the surplus was 
gathered was by brimstoning the bees, a bar- 
barous method to say the least, and when the 
bees were killed, the combs were cut out and 
set aside for use. 




American hive, Langstroth type. 

At best, this is an untidy method, and the 
combs secured are often more or less filled 
with brood and pollen, and such honey seldom 
finds a ready sale. 

With the advent of the modern hive, it is 
possible to secure comb honey of snowy white- 
ness, in little boxes containing about a pound 

118 



HOW TO PRODUCE COMB HONEY 

each, and, best of all, the colony does not have 
to be sacrificed, but is still in possession of the 
brood nest, with ample stores for winter, and 
ready for the next season's work. 

In the production of comb honey under 
obsolete methods, twenty-five to thirty pounds 
was considered a good yield per colony, but 
with the modern hives with section box supers 
it is possible to produce three and four times 
that amount of the choicest honey imaginable. 

While it is possible to secure a good surplus 
from any strong colony in an average season, 
with the ordinary hives having the full depth 
brood frames, such as the Hoffman Self- 
Spacing frames, yet a good many progressive 
beekeepers are adopting a shallower hive, as 
tests have proved that the shallower brood nest 
compels the bees to store more of their honey 
up in the sections where the comb-honey pro- 
ducer wants it. For the production of comb 
honey, there are no better hives on the market 
than the Danzenbaker and similar hives, 
several kinds of which are manufactured, all 

110 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

having a brood nest about four inches shal 
lower than the ordinary hive. 

Let us suppose that the winter is past and 
that the spring has come, and that with the 
first warm days of April, each and every colony 
has been looked over, and those that were 
found to be queenless were given queens, and 
those that were weak have been strengthened 
by giving them frames of sealed brood and 
bees from the stronger hives, so that things are 
generally equalized. 

In transferring frames of bees and brood to 
the weaker colonies, be sure that you do not 
take from the stronger colonies the frame con- 
taining their queen, or else you will needlessly 
sacrifice her, since the colony to which she is 
given will destroy her, while the colony from 
which she was taken will be made needlessly 
queenless and will lose time and honey in 
having to rear a new one. 

As fruit bloom comes on, examine the brood 
frames of a few colonies, and if the cells near 
the top bars are sealed with nice new white 

120 



HOW TO PRODUCE COMB HONEY 

cappings, indicating that the flow is well under 
way, then make haste to have the super cases 




Foundation-fastener and section-holder. 

all filled with the little section boxes with a full 
sheet of thin comb foundation in each box. 

It is a good thing, if many sections are to be 
put together, to attend to this work during the 

121 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

slack winter months, and thus have them all 
in readiness for the flow, as a good deal of 
worry will be saved thereby. 

The little section boxes are made of white 
bass wood and are grooved at the places where 
they are to be bent to put together, and before 
putting them together it is an excellent thing 







Different methods of cutting foundations for the sections. 

to lay a lot of them on a table, so that the 
grooves will all coincide, and then pour a little 
hot water from a teakettle over the grooves, 
as this will make the wood soft and flexible 
and save the breaking of many a section. 

The foundation should be cut in strips just 
long enough to almost fill the section boxes, 
leaving a space of about a half inch at the 
bottom and about a sixteenth of an inch space 
at the sides, as it is necessary only to secure 

122 



HOW TO PRODUCE COMB HONEY 

the sheet of foundation to the top of the sec- 
tion box. 

While there are many methods of fastening 
the foundation to the tops of the section boxes, 
perhaps the best is the Daisy Foundation 
fastener, which works with a slight foot pres- 
sure, and, with a little heat supplied from the 
lamp that goes with it, securely fastens the 
foundation in place. 

The average super case holds about twenty- 
four of these little sections, and each row of 
sections is held in place by a section-holder, 
with bee space fences or spaces between each 
row to prevent the bees from sticking the 
combs together, or causing some to bulge. 
Have no less than three super cases for each 
hive, and if possible four, and long before the 
fruit bloom have every super ready to place 
on the hives. When the brood combs reveal 
the fact that the colony is gathering new honey 
from fruit bloom, lift off its lid and on top of 
the brood body place a super filled with section 
boxes, and on top of this place the lid. 

US 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

All the strong colonies should be treated 
alike, and by the time the clover honey begins 
to coine in the bees will be at work in a state 
of great activity in the sections, and when an 
examination of the supers shows that the 
sections are nearly all drawn out and filled, 
it is time to give the colony another super case 
of sections. Instead, however, of putting the 




Supers for plain sections. 

additional one on top, it must be slipped in 
between the super in which the bees are already 
working and the brood body, as tests have 
proved that the bees will more readily accept 
it and start to work in it than if it were placed 
on top. 

By doing this, the bees that are working in 
124 



HOW TO PRODUCE COMB HONEY 

the super on top are compelled to pass through 
the empty one in order to get to the one in 
which they are working, and thus become 
familiar with it, and, being near the brood 
nest, it is accepted. 

When it is found that the colony has pretty 
nearly filled the second one, and the field indi- 
cations are that the flow is to continue, a third 
super can be placed beneath the upper two, 
and so on, one at a time, until sometimes as 
many as four or five may be placed on the hive. 
This is called tiering. 

Tiering, however, should be carried on with 
caution, and no more supers given to each 
colony than it is able to take care of, and if the 
honey flow shows any signs of a cessation, no 
more supers should be given, or else there will 
be a lot of unfinished and unsalable sections 
on hand ; whereas if the colony had only been 
given as many as they could take care of, and 
finish a nice surplus of, nearly all finished sec- 
tions will be secured. No rule can be laid 
down; the beekeeper must be governed by the 

125 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

condition of the colony, and the local flora, 
and, using his best judgment, give to each 
colony individual treatment. 

As I look out over my own apiary, I find 
that some colonies have but one super, others 
have two, while a goodly number have as many 
as three and four, varying according to the rapid- 
ity with which each colony fills its sections. 

Sometimes the bees will sulk and refuse to 
enter the supers, preferring to cluster on the 
outside of the hive, and in some instances will 
swarm with ample storage room, and when 
such is the case the beekeeper must resort 
to some method of compelling them to go 
above and get to work. This can often be 
accomplished by the use of bait sections, that 
are partially completed, and can either be had 
from some left over from the previous season, 
or a few can be taken from the supers of 
colonies that are working well, and three or 
four of them scattered among the empty sec- 
tions in the supers on the sulking colony. It 
is astonishing how quickly this will set some 

126 



HOW TO PRODUCE COMB HONEY 

sulkers to work, so that in a day or so the 
colony will be working with vim and energy, 
in striking contrast to their idleness of a few 
days before. 

If this does not work, another good plan is 
to give the colony a good smoking, driving 
almost the entire force up into the supers, 
and often this will accomplish the desired 
result, but should this not succeed, then there 
is one plan more that can be worked, which 
I have never known to fail. Lift from a good 
working colony, in which the bees are work- 
ing in full blast on the sections, the entire 
super, bees and all, and place it on the sulking 
hive, and it will not be long before the colony 
will catch the fever of the force above and begin 
to work, and as the bees transferred will return 
to the hive from which they were taken, no 
loss of its working force will ensue c A disad- 
vantage of smoking the bees out of the comb 
honey supers is that as soon as we smoke them 
a lot of bees are certain to uncap many cells 
in their endeavor to fill up before going below, 

127 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

and this will spoil the looks and sale of other- 
wise perfect sections. 

Comb as well as extracted honey usually 
comes from two flows, the early or light honey, 
and the late or dark honey; they should be 
separated, as the early light clover honey is of 
lighter color than the late, and, being of more 
delicate flavor, is worth more per pound. 
For this reason most beekeepers take off the 
early surplus as soon as the flow is over, 
which is usually the middle of July, and, re- 
moving the honey to a safe place, give back the 
supers, or extracting-cases as the case may be, 
for the later fall flow. 

Nothing is gained and much is lost by leav- 
ing all the surplus on till the fall, for in the 
case of the early honey the nice white combs 
will become travel-stained and unsightly and 
not bring the top-notch prices, so for this reason 
it is best to take the honey off as soon as it is 
sealed, for when it is sealed it is fully ripe and 
ready for use or sale. 

There is really only one satisfactory way to 
128 



HOW TO PRODUCE COMB HONEY 

take off comb honey, and that is by means of 
a bee escape board, having a Porter bee escape 
in it that escapes all the bees into the brood 
nest below, thus enabling us to take off the 
surplus without having to smoke the bees 
below, and getting a lot of stings. 

The bee escape boards are furnished by the 
supply houses, and are used in the following 
manner : — 

First lift all the supers from the hive and 
slip the bee escape board on top of the brood 
nest, and place the supers on top of the escape 
board. In twenty- four hours all of the bees 
will have passed out below, and, being unable 
to get back again through the trap, the supers 
will be completely emptied without the aid of 
smoke and no uncapping of cells. The best 
time to put on the bee escape board will be 
late in the afternoon after the bees have ceased 
flying, and by the following evening the supers 
free of bees will be ready to come off. 

These supers with their section boxes should 
be stored in a warm room secure from the 
K 129 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

bees, for should the bees find them, they will 
steal the honey, and carry it back to their 
hives in short order. For this reason see that 
it is stored in a safe place until you are ready 
to take the sections of honey from the supers 
and pack in shipping-cases. 

When you are ready to put your comb honey 
in marketable shape, it will be necessary to take 
the sections out and with the blade of a sharp 
knife, scrape from the wood of the section 
boxes the propolis or bee glue, more or less 
of which will be on the boxes, but be careful 
and not jab the combs. 

At best, there will always be some unfinished 
sections on hand, but their number can be 
greatly reduced by a little care. 

As we stated above, nothing is gained by 
leaving the combs on the hive after they have 
been sealed, but the having a number of un- 
finished sections can be avoided by waiting 
until nearly all the combs are sealed, and when 
this condition is reached, the supers should 
be taken off by aid of the bee escape board 

130 



HOW TO PRODUCE COMB HONEY 

and the fully sealed or finished sections re- 
moved from them. If the bees are working 
nicely, there will be very few of the unfinished 
sections on a hive, and these can be separated 
from the finished ones, and be placed in 
supers by themselves, and returned to the 
bees immediately, and if the flow lasts a few 
days longer, they will practically all be finished. 

There are several different sizes of sections 
that are used, some with the bee-way cut in 
them and perfectly square, while others are 
plain, without the bee- way and are taller than 
their width. Though the latter contain no 
more honey than the perfectly square ones, yet 
they appear to, and sell more quickly, and these 
things have led an increasing number of bee- 
keepers to adopt them. A perusal of the 
catalogues of the various supply houses will 
enable the beginner to make such selection as 
suits his fancy, as tastes differ. 

The fall flow of comb honey is harvested 
the same as the early flow, and should be 
taken off as soon as finished, or when the 

131 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

weather indications point to a cessation of 
the flow. 

In the production of comb honey there will 
be a greater likelihood of swarming than in 
the production of the extracted; but giving 
the hives shadeboards, and open entrances 
full depth and width, and, last, treating each 
hive according to the "shook swarm" plan, 
will reduce it to a minimum and lessen the 
work and worry of the beeman. 

The proper way to prepare the sections for 
market will be treated fully in the chapter on 
"Marketing the Honey Crop." 



132 



CHAPTER XI 

HOW TO PRODUCE EXTRACTED HONEY 

r MHE method of producing extracted honey 
-■- differs so materially from that em- 
ployed for comb honey that we treat it under 
a separate chapter. 

When the colonies are run for comb honey 
it becomes almost a necessity to resort to the 
*' shook swarm" plan to keep down swarm- 
ing, and this compels us to handle the brood 
body of the hive in an entirely different 
manner. 

The matter of swarm control becomes easy 
when we run our colonies for extracted honey, 
as we can extract from time to time and thus 
keep the bees from feeling crowded, with the 
consequent swarming. 

The extracting supers differ from the comb 
honey super cases in that, instead of being 

133 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

shallow and filled with little section boxes, 
the bodies are full depth, and have in them the 
same size of frames as the brood nest. 

When the colonies are strong and the tops 
of the combs in the brood nest show the pres- 
ence of newly gathered honey, we are ready 
for the extracting bodies. When the honey 
flow comes on with a rush, happy is the man 
who is the possessor of a lot of surplus combs, 
as this means the immediate storage of the 
surplus, and does away with the attendant 
waste and delay when frames with but full 
sheets of foundation are at hand. This, how- 
ever, is not a serious matter, and only prevails 
for the first season, as at the end of the season 
after the surplus is gathered, the fully drawn 
combs are in hand for the next season's crop, 
and for a number of seasons, for that matter, 
as these combs are capable of being used for 
a period of years. Many beekeepers make it 
a point never to use in the extracting supers 
combs that have ever been used in the brood 
nest, as they claim that such combs invariably 

134 



PRODUCING EXTRACTED HONEY 

result in a somewhat darker honey, owing to 
the darker color of the brood combs; but in 
my experience I have found that it makes but 
little difference, and a host of beekeepers use 
their frames interchangeably with the brood 
body and the supers. 




Imbedding the wire. 

One thing, however, is an absolute necessity, 
and should not be overlooked, and that is to 
see that the foundations in the extracting: combs 
are properly wired in, full directions for doing 
which come with the hives from the manu- 
facturers, as this prevents the combs from 
becoming broken as they are rapidly whirled 
around in the extractors, a breakage that is 
almost sure to occur in the case of new combs. 

135 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

When the flow comes on, and the colony 
is strong, lift off the lid of the colony's hive 
and place on top of the hive a queen-excluding 
board, so that the queen cannot have access 
to the extracting supers, for if she is allowed 
to enter, the presence of her eggs and brood 




Zinc honey-board. 

will seriously interfere with extracting, more 
or less of the brood being thrown out. 

For many years these excluders were noth- 
ing more or less than sheets of zinc to fit over 
the brood body, and were perforated with 
oblong holes just large enough for the workers 
to get through, but small enough to keep the 
queen below. 

136 



PRODUCING EXTRACTED HONEY 

Even at their best the edges of the per- 
forated holes were more or less rough and to a 
certain extent impeded the workers, but they 
were the best we could get, and there was no 
choice in the matter. 

With the advent of the Root wire excluder, 
the results in increased production of honey 
were marked, as the bees seem readily to 
slip through the polished edges of the wires, 
and are not interfered with in the least, while 
the queen is fully secured below as under the 
old method of stamped zinc excluders. These 
excluders are bound with wood, and with care 
should last a number of years. 

It has been a mooted question for years as 
to the proper size of hive to use in the pro- 
duction of extracted honey, and the tendency 
of late has been toward a large hive, cer- 
tainly of no less than ten frames, which has 
become the standard, though there is an ever 
increasing number of extracted honey men 
who have made special hives of twelve and 
fourteen-frame size, claiming that swarming 

137 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

is more easily controlled, and that the queen 
has ample laying-room. 

The beginner had better adopt the regula- 
tion ten-frame size hive, as the expense will 
be considerably less, as these goods are always 
carried in stock by the supply houses ; and as 
experience is gained, the larger hives can be 
tried out according to one's own ideas, but these 
experiments should be very carefully made, 
for it is a waste of time and money to try 
out hives of one's own invention when the very 
ideas may have been tried and found wanting 
many years ago. 

Now that you have the queen-excluder in 
place, proceed to put on top of it a full-sized 
body filled with extracting combs, and, if 
combs are not at hand, then use frames with 
full sheets of foundation wired in. The 
extracting super will of course be of the same 
size as the hive body, but it will be best not 
to crowd the former with its full capacity of 
frames, as experience has proved that it is 
best to use but eight frames in a ten-frame ex- 

138 



PRODUCING EXTRACTED HONEY 

tracting super, pulling them a little apart from 
each other so that the bees will have ample 
space to cluster while storing their surplus 
and working on the combs. 

I cannot tell why, though I know from 
experience, that a colony likes to build a cer- 
tain amount of comb, and this may have a 
great deal to do with their desire to swarm, 
as by swarming they have ample opportunity 
to build new combs in their new homes, and 
by spacing the frames apart it enables them to 
satisfy this propensity by building the combs 
in the super out to a point where they are 
decidedly fat and bulky, thus holding swarm- 
ing in restraint. 

When filled with honey these fat combs are 
not an encumbrance when it comes to extract- 
ing, but on the contrary they render their uncap- 
ping particularly easy, as the capping knife can 
be sunk deep into the comb, and when the honey 
has drained from the cappings that are thrown 
into the uncapping boxes, it can be drawn off, 
and a fine lot of wax thus secured each season. 

139 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

Now that you have your super in position^ 
place on it its covering board, replacing the 
lid, and treat in like manner all colonies that 
are ready for supers. 

If the flow is good, an examination of the 
super body will tell how rapidly the bees are 
filling it, and if you find that about two- 
thirds of each comb is filled and capped over, 
the frames are ready for extracting. 

Some beekeepers never use more than one ex- 
tracting super for each colony, and by frequent 
extracting, keep the colony from being crowded 
for room, but there is another class who pre- 
fer to tier up, and in some cases as many as 
three or four supers are used. 

Where tiering up is to be resorted to, it 
requires that the beekeeper, as soon as he finds 
that the first super is nearly filled, shall gently 
lift it and place between it and the hive brood 
body another super with eight frames of combs 
or frames of wired foundation sheets, leaving 
the excluder still over the brood body. When 
the second body is nearly filled, and the indi- 

140 



PRODUCING EXTRACTED HONEY 

cations point to a continuance of the flow, a 
third body may be added under the second, 
and all left in place until the flow is ended and 
operations for extracting begin. 

Running the bees for extracted honey has 
this advantage over the production of comb 
honey, namely, there is no risk of having a lot 
of unfinished sections on hand if the flow 
should suddenly cease, as it often does, for 
in producing extracted honey it matters not 
at all if a lot of cells should be uncapped if 
the bees have possession of the combs long 
enough to thoroughly ripen it. 

Whether the extracting is done frequently 
with the use of but one super, or done all at 
once about the last of July, it is a waste of 
mioney not to extract the early white honey 
and keep it by itself, as it is sure to be more or 
less mixed with the inferior and cheaper fall 
honey that comes from the fall flow if the supers 
are left on from spring till fall. For this 
reason it is wiser to extract during or at the 
close of the flow from clover, basswood, and 

141 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

early bloom, and give the empty combs back 
to the bees for the later flow. 

When your supers are ready to extract, it 
becomes necessary to free the combs of the 
bees, and, as it makes little difference if a few 
combs should be uncapped by the bees when 
we smoke them down, we need not use bee 
escape boards as in the case of comb honey, 
for in the matter of comb honey there would be 
a noticeable loss in the appearance and sala- 
bility of the combs if the bees should in their 
fright at being smoked at the time of emptying 
the supers, uncap many cells on what would 
otherwise be perfect sections. 

To get rid of the bees on the extracting 
frames, open the hive and smoke them until 
they run down into the body below ; what few 
bees remain can be shaken from the frames 
in front of their hives and the frames of honey 
placed in an empty hive body on a wheel- 
barrow handy for the purpose. 

To prevent robbing, cover the body on 
the wheelbarrow with a large cloth thoroughly 

142 



PRODUCING EXTRACTED HONEY 

wet, for the robbers are very chary about 
crawling up under a wet cloth, and as soon 
as the carrying body is full, cover it imme- 
diately. When two or more bodies are filled, 
take them to the extracting room for extract- 
ing. Do your extracting in a room ihe doors 
and windows of which are securely screened, 
and in the top corner of the screen door or 
window screen have a bee escape, so that 
any stray bees that may be carried into the 
extracting-room may escape without possibil- 
ity of returning. 

There are a good many extractors and un- 
capping knives on the market, and the novice, 
after reading the various catalogues, will 
have to make his choice, but there are certain 
principles that go to make up an effective 
extractor, and these should not be overlooked. 
By all means secure an extractor that is re- 
versible ; this will save much work and trouble 
in the matter of extracting, as it is a nuisance 
to have to take out each frame after one side 
of the comb has been extracted, and turn it 

143 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

around by hand to put it into the extractor 
again. 

There are extractors on the market that 
reverse automatically by a lever pressure, so 
that when one side of the combs is emptied, 
they are, at the will of the operator, reversed 
in a second, and the opposite sides emptied 
also. 

While the two-frame extractors will perhaps 
do for the novice having a half dozen hives, 
yet the four-frame extractor is decidedly 
preferable, as it can be used just as effectively 
in a small apiary, and as the number of colo- 
nies increase, it is ample for the increased 
output. 

There are a few beekeepers, whose colonies 
are numbered by the hundreds and whose 
surplus runs up into the thousands of pounds, 
who use an extractor of eight-frame capacity, 
and have it geared to a small gasolene engine. 
Where the size of the apiary warrants it, this 
is a decided saving in time and labor, but 
where no more than one hundred colonies 

144 



PRODUCING EXTRACTED HONEY 

are kept, the four-frame hand-power extractor 
will meet all the requirements, and it is aston- 
ishing how much honey can be extracted 
in a day with them. 

The Bingham improved uncapping knife 
is about the best that can be used, as its square 
wooden handle and projecting metal shoulder 
on the blade enable the operator to secure a 
firmer grip than with the old style round handle 
knife. A small oil or alcohol stove is a posi- 
tive necessity, and on it should be a pan filled 
with water kept hot, so that while one knife is 
being used, the other is resting in the hot 
water, being heated and cleansed of adhering 
honey and particles of wax. Personally I use 
an alcohol stove of special construction, and 
thus avoid all danger of spoiling the delicate 
flavor of the honey by the fumes of an oil 
stove. As one knife becomes cool it is placed 
in the pan of hot water, and the other used 
until it cooIf. The constant heating of the 
uncapping knives makes all the difference in 
the world, and renders uncapping a compar- 
L 145 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

atively easy task. Another necessary fixture 
is an uncapping can or tank, and it is unwise 
to attempt to make one, for the homemade 
affairs are sticky and unsatisfactory at best, 
and the patented ones are more effective and 
not expensive. 

We will suppose that everything is now 
ready, that all the adhering bees have been 
shaken and brushed off the combs in front 
of their hives, and the combs in the extracting- 
room ready for the extractor. 

Lift up one of the combs and rest its end 
on the bar of the uncapping can, and with 
the knife proceed to cut just under the cap- 
pings with a backward and forward motion, 
like sawing, from the bottom upward; don't 
be afraid to cut deeply, as any damage to the 
combs, if not too great, will be repaired by the 
bees when the combs are returned to them. 
Do not be afraid to cut well under the cap- 
pings and make the comb nearly its normal 
thickness, and as the cappings fall into the 
uncapping can, scrape the blade of the knife 

146 



PRODUCING EXTRACTED HONEY 

across the rack for the purpose and clean it of 
honey and wax that are sure to adhere to some 
extent. Now reverse the frame of honey and 
uncap the opposite side, and when it is all 
uncapped, place it in one of the wire baskets 
of the extractor, and proceed to uncap an- 
other and place it in another of the baskets. 
When the four baskets are filled, extract by 
turning the handle of the extractor, and don't 
be afraid to get up considerable speed, for there 
is little danger to the combs if the original 
foundation was wired in. If you have widely 
spaced your combs in the extracting supers, 
you will find uncapping a pleasure. As the 
baskets whirl about, the honey is thrown out 
by centrifugal force, and there is no more 
pleasant sound than the rain of well-ripened 
honey against the sides of the extractor. 

The extractor should be elevated at least a 
foot above the floor of the extr acting-room, 
and two feet would be better, so as to permit 
the placing of some vessel to catch the honey 
as it runs from the honey gate on the extractor. 

147 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

A piece of cheesecloth made into a bag about 
six inches long can be tied to the honey out 
let gate of the extractor, and as the honey 
runs out it is strained of all sediment or dirt, 
and is in first-class condition for putting into 
cans, kegs, or vats, as the case may be. Some 
large beekeepers, like Mr. Alexander of Delan- 
son, New York, place the extractor on the 
floor, running a large tin funnel through the 
floor and permitting the honey as fast as 
extracted to run through the funnel into a pipe 
that conveys it to a vat in the room below. 
At the end of the pipe just over the vat is 
hung a pail made of wire cloth; the honey is 
strained through the pail into the vat holding 
about five thousand pounds, and when one vat 
is filled, another section of pipe is slipped on 
and the honey carried to another vat. 

Where the output does not run over five 
thousand pounds, it is just as well to elevate 
the extractor, using the cheesecloth, and run 
the honey into pails from which it can be 
poured into whatever vessels are to be used to 

148 



PRODUCING EXTRACTED HONEY 

store or market it, or it can be run directly into 
the vessels in which it is to be sold. 

We have seen a good many receptacles used 
for storing extracted honey, from old milk 
cans to stone crocks, but there is nothing so 
satisfactory as the square five-gallon tin cans 
made for the purpose, two of which come 
packed in a reshipping case. 

These cans, if new, — and second-hand cans 
should never be used, — are the very best re- 
ceptacles, as there is no danger of contaminat- 
ing the honey, and no fear of leakage. More- 
over, when put up in this shape they are just 
right for the buyer who bottles honey, as honey, 
which is almost sure to granulate, can be 
conveniently liquefied by simply placing the 
cans in hot water. Where the honey is so 
packed, it often brings a considerably greater 
price than honey run into kegs and barrels, 
which has to be scooped and shovelled out to 
be liquefied. Again, honey in these cans 
can be packed in storage compactly, and when 
the caps are screwed on, there is no leakage 

149 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

or danger of robbing being started by the 
bees. 

Shall we return the extracted combs to the 
bees as soon as they are emptied? That 
will depend upon the chances of robbing being 
started by the bees getting at the empty combs. 
If the flow is well on and care is exercised, 
it will do no harm to return them at once, 
but there are a number of beekeepers who 
prefer to wait till toward evening, when the 
bees have stopped flying, and return them all 
at once. Local conditions will guide the 
beginner as to which method he had best 
pursue. 

When all of the early light-colored honey 
has been extracted, the empty combs can be 
allowed to remain on the hives until the late 
flow in late summer and fall has been gathered, 
when the same methods of taking the surplus 
that were used for the early flow should be 
followed as soon as the late flowers cease to 
secrete nectar. After the late flow has been 
extracted, the combs may be set outdoors in 

150 



PRODUCING EXTRACTED HONEY 

their bodies and the bees permitted to have 
access to them to clean them up, and then 
they should be set away in a safe place where 
mice or rats cannot destroy them^ as they are 
an important asset for the coming season. 

My plan is to fill each super body with its 
full quota of combs and to pile them five or 
six high on the barn floor, closing them se- 
curely at the top with extra lids and placing 
a weight upon each lid; and if the nights 
are frosty, there is no danger from the rav- 
ages of the wax moth. 



151 



CHAPTER Xn 

HOW TO MAKE INCREASE 

SWARMING is nature's method of in- 
crease, but it is so uncertain and this 
with the possible loss of swarms emerging 
during the beekeeper's absence, has led pro- 
fessional beekeepers to adopt artificial methods 
of increase that are absolutely under the 
control of the operator. Generally speaking, 
natural swarming is a very uncertain depen- 
dence for increase, as there are many years 
when it will hardly more than make up for 
winter losses, and he who would increase his 
colonies materially must adopt methods of 
division that will give him the desired number 
of extra colonies. 

When it comes to a matter of simply doub- 
ling the number of colonies, division is com- 
paratively easy and safe even in the hands of 

152 



HOW TO MAKE INCREASE 

an amateur, but when the increase is rapid, 
involving a splitting up of a ten-frame colony 
into five or ten little colonies, great care should 
be used or failure is sure to follow. 

The late Mr. E. W. Alexander of Delanson, 
New York (than whom there was no better 
beekeeper in the world), had a method of 
doubling his colonies for increase, by which 
he did away with all possibility of loss of 
brood, and was still able to secure a good sur- 
plus at the same time, whereas under most 
of the methods followed, increase was carried 
on at the expense of the honey crop, for it is 
almost an axiom with beekeepers, "The 
greater the increase, the less honey for that 
year." 

It can be readily seen that in the splitting 
up of colonies for increase there would be no 
surplus gathered, as each of the divisions 
would require the entire season to draw the 
frames of foundation out to full combs, and 
get strong for winter quarters. 

While in rapid increase there is an entire 
153 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

loss of the honey crop, yet the increase of one 
colony to five or even ten would represent 
an increased equipment many times the 
value of the surplus that would have been 
gathered by the colony had it been run for 
honey. There is, therefore, a gain and not a 
loss, though the gain is in bees and not in 
honey. 

Mr. Alexander's method of course meant 
the increase of but one more colony for each 
strong colony in hand, but as it carried with 
it the assurance of a surplus at the same time, 
it is a most excellent plan to follow where 
a rapid increase is not desired. 

In " Gleanings in Bee Culture," an illustrated 
bee journal published by the A. I. Root Co. 
of Medina, Ohio, we find in the issue of one 
of the months of 1906, page 423, the method 
outlined as follows : — 

" When your colonies are strong enough 
to swarm naturally, and you wish to divide 
them so as to make two from one, go to the 
colony you wish to divide; lift it from its 

154 



HOW TO MAKE INCREASE 

stand and put in its place a hive containing 
frames of comb or foundation, the same as 
you would put the swarm in providing it had 
just swarmed. Now remove the centre comb 
from your new hive, and put in its place a 
frame of brood, either from the hive you wish 
to divide or some other colony that can spare 
one, and be sure you find the queen and put 
her on this frame of brood in the new hive; 
also look it over very carefully to see that it 
contains no eggs or larvae in any queen cells. 
If it does, destroy them. Now put a queen- 
excluding honey-board on top of this new 
hive that contains the queen and frame of 
brood with their empty combs, then set your 
full queenless colony on top of the excluder; 
put the empty comb or frame of foundation 
into the body from which you took the frame 
of brood; and close the upper hive except the 
entrance they have through the excluder into 
the hive below. Leave them in this way 
about five days, then look over the combs 
carefully, and destroy any larvae you may 

155 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

find in the queen cells in the top body, un* 
less they are of a good strain of bees that 
you care to breed from, for they frequently 
start the rearing of queens above the ex- 
cluder very soon after their queen has been 
placed below the excluder. If so, you had 
better separate them at once; but if they 
have not started any queen cells above, then 
leave them together ten or eleven days, dur- 
ing which time the queen will get a fine 
lot of brood started in the lower hive, and 
every egg and particle of larva that was in the 
old hive on top will have matured, so it will 
be capped over and saved; then separate 
them, putting the old hive on a new stand. 
It will then be full of young bees mostly, and 
capped brood, and in about twenty-four hours 
they will accept a ripe cell, a virgin, or laying 
queen, as they will then realize that they are 
hopelessly queenless. I would advise you to 
give them a laying queen, as I never like to 
keep my full colonies for even a day longer 
without a laying queen than I can help. In 

156 



HOW TO MAKE INCREASE 

this way you have two strong colonies from 
one, as you have not lost a particle of brood 
nor cheeked the laying of your queen; and 
with me it almost wholly prevents swarming. 
This is the way we have made our increase 
for several years, and we like it much better 
than any other way we have ever tried. In 
doing so you keep all your colonies strong 
during the whole summer, and it is the strong 
colonies that count in giving us our surplus. 

The mere fact of having a large number 
of colonies does not amount to much unless 
they are strong in bees and are well cared for 
at all times. This is a fact that many have 
sadly overlooked ; and when the season comes 
to a close, giving them a small surplus, they 
feel disappointed and lay the fault on many 
things that have had but little to do with 
their failure. 

In making your increase in the above way, 
your new swarm on the old stand is in fine 
shape for a clamp of sections, as it has a large 
working force backed up by having its hive 

157 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

nearly full of brood, and but little honey, 
as the bees have been in the habit of storing 
their honey in the old hive that was on top. 
They will soon go to work in the sections, 
with no intention of swarming. Then the 
old hive that has been set away can usually 
spare fifteen or twenty pounds of honey, 
which can be taken with the extractor, giving 
its new queen plenty of room to lay, and in a 
short time will be one of your best colonies, 
with no desire to swarm. 

Now, if you have done your duty by your 
bees since taking them from their winter 
quarters, as I have recommended above, 
keeping them snug and warm, and feeding 
them a little thin warm syrup nearly every day 
for the first thirty days after they have be- 
gun to fly, you can have two good strong 
colonies in the place of one, ready to com- 
mence work on your clover harvest, which 
will probably come about June 15. 

From an extensive experience along this 
line I find I can get nearly twice the amount 

158 



HOW TO MAKE INCREASE 

of surplus by dividing as above stated, ovei 
what I was able to acquire either by letting 
them go undivided or dividing in a way that 
caused the loss of a greater part of their brood. 
This losing of brood we must guard against 
at all times if we expect to secure a fine sur- 
plus. It costs both time and honey to produce 
it, and it is the principal factor in obtaining 
those strong colonies that give us tons of honey. 

Far too many beekeepers think that the 
value of their apiary consists in the number 
of colonies they keep. This is so only to a 
certain extent; for if you had one thousand 
colonies and they were all weak in bees, so 
they would give you no surplus, they would 
not be worth as much as one good strong 
colony that would give you two hundred or 
three hundred pounds of honey. 

Several years ago one of my sons bought 
nine colonies of bees in common box hives, 
about the first of June. He brought them 
home and transferred them at once to movable- 
frame hives, and in about three weeks divided 

159 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

them, making twenty colonies of the nine he 
bought, using some queen cells I had on hand 
for his surplus colonies. He then attended to 
those twenty colonies so they were all strong 
at the commencement of our buckwheat har- 
vest. I then loaned him twenty hives of empty 
combs to put on top of his colonies to extract 
from. He took two thousand eight hundred 
and forty-nine pounds of extracted honey 
from those nine colonies and their increase, 
and left them in good condition so that every 
one came out the next spring in fine order. 

Another son, the same season, took one 
colony, divided into three, and received three 
hundred and forty-seven pounds of extracted 
honey. They also came through the follow- 
ing winter in good condition. I speak of 
these cases simply to show that it is not neces- 
sary to keep hundreds of colonies in order to 
get a little honey. If you will keep only 
strong colonies and give them the best of care, 
you will soon find both pleasure and profit 
in bee-keeping. 

160 



HOW TO MAKE INCREASE 

Now, in regard to the criticism on this waj 
of making our increase, which has been pub- 
lished in " Gleanings." I find that nearly all 
who have made a failure of the method have 
taken colonies that had already made some 
preparations for swarming by having eggs or 
larvae in their queen cells, as did J. D. Ronan, 
of Chesterville, Mississippi, and also Don 
Mills, of Highland, Michigan. 

During the summer I received a few letters 
from persons who had made a failure of this 
method in much the same way. Some had 
taken colonies that had capped queen cells 
in their hives at the time they put the queen 
in the under hive, and, of course, they swarmed 
in a day or two. I cannot see that these 
failures are any proof of fault in the method. 
When we work with our bees we must always 
use some discretion in such matters. If a 
colony is very strong in bees, it certainly re- 
quires different management from that given 
to one rather weak. 

The above plan is a most excellent one; 
M 161 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

I have used it with unfailing success, and the 
beginner will make no mistake in adopting 
it where a rapid increase is not desired ; it will 
result in a doubling of the colonies and a 
goodly surplus at the same timco 

There are other times, however, when the 
beekeeper desires to increase his colonies 
several fold, and if great care is exercised, it 
is possible to increase the number of colonies 
to ten times the original number in one season; 
but one had better wait a season or two for 
experience before going in for a wholesale 
multiplication of colonies. Personally, I was 
able in one season to increase ten colonies 
up to one hundred, and, by a little feeding 
which will be described later on, succeeded in 
building the one hundred colonies up to strong 
swarms for winter quarters, and the follow- 
ing spring had one hundred prime colonies 
ready for the honey flow, all made from but 
ten colonies the season before. The increased 
value of the apiary was from $100 to $1000, 
and though there was no honey surplus gath- 

162 



HOW TO MAKE INCREASE 

ered by the increase the season the division 
took place, yet the increased value of the 
apiary was many times what the surplus from 
the original ten colonies would have amounted 
to had they not been divided. 

Let us suppose that you have a good strong 
ten-frame colony of bees, strong in bees and 
brood, and you wish to increase it to five 
colonies by division so that the apiary at the 
close of the season will be five times its origi- 
nal size. 

About the last of April, if the colony is 
strong, and the weather permits, and honey 
is coming in rapidly, have on hand five extra 
hives all complete with full sheets of founda- 
tion wired in the frames, and above all four 
extra queens in their mailing cages that have 
been secured in advance from some breeder. 
You are now ready for the division. 

Toward evening after all the bees are 
in, open the strong colony, and when you 
have found the frame with the queen, lift 
it gently from its hive and place it in one of 

163 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

the empty hives, removing two of the frames 
of foundation from the empty hive, in order to 
make room. 

Then lift another frame of bees and brood 
from the strong colony with all adhering 
bees and place it in the new hive beside the 
frame that has the queen, and when they are 
in place, put on the lid, and close the en- 
trance with a strip of wood nailed on. The 
new swarm, or nucleus, is now ready to be 
carried and placed on the stand it is to per- 
manently occupy. 

This new hive will contain two frames of 
bees and brood with queen and eight frames 
of full sheets of foundation. 

Now take another empty hive and set aside 
two of its frames of foundation, and in their 
place put two more frames of brood and bees 
from the strong colony. As these two frames 
of brood and bees and all others taken will be 
without queens, take one of the little cages 
having a queen, and, tearing off the piece of 
cardboard from the end of the cage holding 

164 



HOW TO MAKE INCREASE 

the feed, insert the little cage with the queen, 
the feed end down, between the frames of 
brood and bees in the new hive; push the 
frames close together, and, closing the entrance 
of the hive, place it on the stand it is to oc- 
cupy. In about two days the imprisoned bees 
will eat a passageway through the feed to 
liberate the queen, and by the time she is lib- 
erated she will have acquired the odor of the 
colony and be accepted, whereas if she had 
been liberated at once at time of division, the 
bees would have perceived her to be a stranger 
and killed her. Treat the remaining empty 
hives the same way, and when all have two 
frames of bees and brood with a new queen 
you will have five little colonies all ready 
to get to work as soon as we take away the 
strip of wood from their entrances. 

The original hive that was divided should 
be left on its old stand with the last two 
frames of bees and brood and the cage con- 
taining the queen. (See chapter on "Queen 
Rearing" in reference to introducing queens.) 

165 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

In three days you can remove the block from 
each entrance, and, using the same entrance 
strip, so tack it to the entrance of the hives, 
ihat there will be a small outlet about a half 
inch wide. Place a piece of board slanting 
from the top of the hive to the ground 
so that the bees when coming out will mark 
their new location and not return to the old 
stand they occupied before the division. 

If this rapid increase is done early in the 
season, — and it should be done early to give 
the little colonies the entire season in which 
to build up, — the weather will be sufficiently 
cool, and the number of bees in each hive so 
few that there will be no danger of the bees 
smothering while imprisoned, which certainly 
would occur if a strong colony were so im- 
prisoned during warm weather. 

In about a week the little colonies can be 
opened and the cages taken out, and if you 
find the queen, or even eggs a day or so old, 
you can know that she has been accepted. 
There may be rare cases where the queen will 

166 



HOW TO MAKE INCREASE 

be destroyed, but this will not occur more than 
in one case out of a hundred, and when her 
loss is discovered, a new queen should be 
introduced at once by the method described. 

Of course it is understood that a caged 
queen is not to be given to the first division 
that was made, as that nucleus has the original 
queen given to them when the division was made. 

If you desire to increase one colony up to 
ten, the method of procedure is identically 
the same, and differs only in that you give 
each empty hive but one frame of bees and 
brood instead of two. 

A few days after the division has been made 
it is well to examine each nucleus, and when 
it is found that the bees have begun to work 
on the frame of foundation next to their 
frame of bees and brood, it can be lifted out 
and inserted between the two frames of brood, 
as this will facilitate its rapid completion. 
In this way the completed combs can be 
spread every few days until all the sheets 
of foundation are drawn out to full combs. 

167 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

If the honey flow should cease before the 
sheets of foundation are fully drawn out, each 
little colony should be fed daily about a half 
pint of syrup made from mixing equal parts 
of good granulated sugar and boiling water, 
as this has the same effect upon them as 
though the natural flow continued, and will 
force them to work out of season, build good 
combs, and rear a numerous brood. 

A good feeder for this purpose is the Board- 
man entrance feeder, which has a quart jar 
with perforated cap inserted in a block of 
wood which can be placed at the entrance 
safe from robber bees, and the glass jar enables 
the operator to tell at a glance how rapidly 
the feed is being taken up. Other feeders 
will be described in the chapter on "Feed- 
mg. 

The danger attending very rapid increase 
is that the operator will either make his divi- 
sions before the colony is strong, or else will 
defer it so late in the season that the little 
colony will not have time in which to build up 

168 



HOW TO MAKE INCREASE 

before cold weather. Personally I have made 
divisions as late as August 1, but this neces- 
sitated constant feeding and great care, and 
the addition to the nucleus of an occasional 
frame of sealed brood from some strong colony. 
Late increase, however, is only successful in 
the hands of an expert; the course of wisdom 
for the beginner is to make the increase early, 
and as the season progresses, if there are other 
strong colonies in the apiary that have not 
been divided, it is an excellent thing to en- 
courage the struggling nuclei by giving them 
a frame of sealed brood every once in a while 
from one of the strong colonies. Be sure that 
you do not give them the queen from the strong 
hive, or you will make your strong hive queen- 
less and possibly sacrifice a good queen, as the 
little swarm will be sure to kill any additional 
queen that may be accidentally given them. 

The empty space in the strong colony from 
which the frame of sealed brood is taken can 
be filled by a frame of foundation taken from 
the little swarm, after all adhering bees have 

169 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

been shaken in front of the hive to which 
they belong. 

The reason we give the little colony sealed 
brood is because such sealed brood does not 
require attention and feeding by the bees, for 
if we gave the weak nucleus unsealed brood, 
there might not be sufficient bees present to 
properly care for it, with a consequent loss 
of brood and bees. When the brood is once 
sealed over, all that it requires is the proper 
temperature of about ninety-eight degrees to 
insure its hatching, and when these frames 
hatch in the little colony, it is astonishing 
what a multitude of bees will result to the 
colony to which the frames were given. 

The above methods are the very best, and 
have proved their worth over and over, but, 
as has been said, the Alexander plan is the 
best for the novice. As experience is gained, 
rapid increase can be resorted to; but in any 
case keep your eyes on the increase, and give 
them all the encouragement possible in the 
matter of slight stimulative feeding, and an 

170 



HOW TO MAKE INCREASE 

occasional frame of sealed brood if conditions 
demand it. 

If the increase is started early, and the flow 
of honey prolonged, it is possible to make 
rapid increase without either feeding, or addi- 
tion of sealed brood, but at all events watch 
the colonies closely, and meet any emergency 
that may arise. 



171 



CHAPTER XIII 

LOCATION OF THE APIARY — OUT APIARIES — 
MOVING BEES 

X OCATION IS of a twofold character, and 
-■-^ has to do first with the possibiUties of 
the flora of any given section of the country 
where bees are to be kept, and secondly with' 
the position of the hives in the apiary. 

As we stated in the first chapter, in any 
section of the country where agricultural 
pursuits are successfully carried on bees are 
sure to be a source of profit to their keepers, 
and even in suburban towns where the farm- 
ing districts are remote, there is more or less 
forage for the bees, so that one is not com- 
pelled to seek an isolated country district in 
order to make a success of the venture. In 
fact, there are wild regions, such as the Mid- 
dle West, where there is an abundant natural 

172 



LOCATION OF THE APIARY 

growth of clover, basswood, and wild rasp- 
berries, where some of the greatest crops are 
secured, so that we can see that the bees adapt 
themselves to almost any environment. While 
the buckwheat sections of New York state, 
the alfalfa districts of Utah, Colorado, and 
California, are particularly favorable for large 
returns, nevertheless in almost every section 
of the country bees are able to extract a goodly 
surplus for their owners. 

Where the nectar-secreting flowers are more 
or less restricted, there is danger of overstock- 
ing, and this has led a good many eastern bee- 
keepers to resort to a system of out apiaries. 

Instead of placing five hundred colonies in 
the home yard, a thing that is possible in the 
regions referred to above, it will be best in an 
average location to place not more than seventy- 
five colonies in the home yard, and then at 
distances of say three to five miles from each 
other, place additional apiaries of like number. 
In this way a large number of colonies may 
be kept in sections of the country that are 

173 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

often only of an average character. The 
management of these apiaries is identically 
the same as the home yard, the only differ- 
ence being that the operation of the out-yards 
requires a trip to them by the operator, which 
can be easily accomplished with horse and buggy , 
bicycle, motor cycle, or automobile. 

Whether there be many or one yard, it is 
essential that the home yard be placed in a 
favorable or safe position so that the neighbors 
shall not be annoyed, or the keeper's family 
be constantly stung. This should also be the 
rule in the location of the out-yards. 

In the matter of the out apiaries, a purchase 
of land for their location is not at all neces- 
sary, for a farmer or other person having a 
little land will usually be glad to rent it for 
from $5 to $10 a year, as an apiary of consider- 
able size occupies but a small space. 

If horses or other stock are at hand, the 
apiary should be placed a sufficient distance 
away from them to avoid annoyance, and the 
exercise of a little judgment will enable the 

174 



LOCATION OF THE APIARY 

beekeeper to adjust himself to local conditions. 
Formerly an orchard was advocated as the 
best place in which to locate an apiary, but 
experience has proved that the bees do better 
if their hives are placed so that the sun can 
shine on them, and, during very hot weather, 
a little extra ventilation and the use of a shade 




Hive stand. 

board on top of the hives will offset the disad- 
vantages of the hot spells. There is no doubt 
but that a back yard or open field is the very 
best place in the world for the bees, as the 
sun's rays in spring aid very materially in the 
rearing of brood, and even during the winter 
months it is a decided help to the bees. 

A good plan is to arrange the hives in groups 
of four or five, as this renders manipulation 

175 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

much easier, and by equalizing things in the 
matter of distributing brood and honey, each 
group forms a convenient unit by itself. A 
stand of some sort for each hive is a necessity, 
as it keeps the hive from contact with the 
moist earth, and adds to the life of the hive, 
for rotting of wood is not likely to occur, and 
when stormy and winter days come on its 
protection is important. 

Some beekeepers make concrete stands for 
each hive while others buy stands ready made, 
but both of these are an unnecessary expense, 
as any man can with a few boards, saw, and 
hatchet, make his own, and though such 
stands may be more or less crude, they are 
nevertheless just as useful as the expensive 
ones. All that is necessary is to get some 
rough hemlock boards and cut two lengths 
about a foot longer than the width of the 
bottom board of the hive; then cut two 
shorter lengths about six inches longer than 
the length of the bottom board of the hive 
and using each of the shorter lengths for 

176 



LOCATION OF THE APIARY 

the ends, nail the longer pieces on top of 
the shorter ones, and the stand is complete. 
The advantage of these low stands over 
the taller ones is that the bees when coming 
in from the fields heavily loaded will not fall 
to the ground a foot or more from the entrance 
of the hive, but get into their homes at once. 
When it comes to operating an out apiary, 
the methods and fixtures are the same as in the 
case of the home apiary. To avoid carrying 
back and forth the necessary implements, it 
is well to have a small building, or even a 
large box covered with heavy waterproofed 
paper, with a door that can be locked, and in 
this little building keep the smokers, hive 
tools, veils, fuel, and such other little articles 
that are necessary for the work to be done. 
These things are inexpensive, and much 
trouble is saved by having located at each yard 
the necessary tools, etc. The extra hive 
bodies, and comb and extracting supers, can be 
stored in the barn or other such buildings that 
may be at hand by the owner of the land from 
H 177 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

which it is rented, or else they can be brought 
over as needed. 

When extracting at the out yard, the extract- 
ing supers can be taken off late in the after- 
noon and be carted back to the home yard, 
extracted in the place set apart for this work, 
and be returned to the bees in the morning. 
If this is too much trouble, a wooden frame 
extracting cage about ten feet square, covered 
with wire cloth, and when set up secured 
by hooks and eyes, can be carried to the yard 
and the extracting done on the spot. As these 
large cages are inexpensive, and when taken 
down can be easily carried in a small wagon, an 
increasing number of bee-keepers who have a 
system of out yards are using them. 

If the bees at the out yards are to be win- 
tered outdoors with winter cases, there will be 
no carting of the bees to the home cellar in the 
fall and carting them back to their yards in 
the spring, and this is an important item in 
favor of outdoor wintering, which will be 
considered in the chapter on "How to Winter 

178 



LOCATION OF THE APIARY 

Bees Successfully." If, however, the bees are 
to be carted back home in the fall to be placed 
in the cellar, great care should be used in 
preparing and carting them. 

To prepare the bees properly for carting 
to the home for cellar wintering the follow- 
ing is a most excellent plan: For each hive 
to be moved, take some wooden strips about 
an inch wide and about seven-eighths of an inch 
thick, and make frames just the size of the top 
and bottom of the hive; over these frames 
tack securely some ordinary mosquito wire- 
netting, and after all the bees are in their 
hives nail one of these frames to both the top 
and the bottom of the hive, and it is ready for 
moving either by wagon or train. As an 
extra precaution against smothering the bees, 
it is well to tack or nail an extra strip of wood 
on the front ends of the bottom screen to 
elevate it above the floor of the wagon or car, 
as this will give a free circulation of air for the 
colony and insure their better condition when 
arriving at their destination. Some of the 

179 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

supply houses have in the making of their 
screens overlooked this extra bottom cleat, so 
that when the hive of bees is set on the floor, 
they might as well be entirely without the 
bottom screen. The lids and bottom boards 
that were removed from the hives to be moved 
can be sent or carried separately. 

When bees have been bought in the old- 
fashioned box hives, all that is necessary is to 
turn the hive upside down and tack some wire 
net over the bottom, and ship the hive in this 
position. 

When a quantity of bees are to be shipped 
a considerable distance by rail it will be a 
good thing for their owners to accompany 
them, and give them in warm weather an 
occasional sprinkling of cold water to cool 
and keep them quiet. 

If horses and wagon are employed, by all 
means unhitch the horses before the bees are 
loaded on the wagon and take them a safe dis- 
tance from the bees until the wagon is loaded, 
and, when the other bees have stopped flying, 

180 



LOCATION OF THE APIARY 

hitch up again, and there will be no risk of the 
horses being stung. 

In some sections of the country, migratory 
bee-keeping is practised, the bees being moved 
from place to place to take advantage of the 
flow that may come in districts remote from 
the. yards already located; though this has 
been tried in Florida and other parts of the 
country, the results have not warranted the 
extra trouble, save in some parts of Europe, 
where it is carried on quite extensively. The 
better plan is to locate the bees where the 
forage is abundant, and leave them there 
permanently. 

In shipping full colonies of bees, or two- or 
three-frame nuclei, the screens referred to 
above are all that is needed, and in the case 
of nuclei, small boxes made from old boxes 
secured at some store with a piece of screen 
tacked over the top and the bottom, with the 
frames firmly secured by small nails, fully 
answer the purpose. Be sure in every case 
to see that the wire screens are properly ad- 

181 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

justed to the hives to prevent the escape of 
the bees, or otherwise most of them will escape 
in transit, and the colony become almost en- 
tirely depopulated by the time it arrives at its 
destination. 

If a shipment of a large number of hives 
is to go a long distance, it is essential that 
some one accompany them, and if the bees 
are found to be clustering on the upper screens, 
some water, which can be carried in five-gallon 
honey cans, can be sprinkled on them with a 
small hand sprinkler, or whisk broom, and 
after sprinkling, the bees will return to their 
combs, with the result that there is greater 
ventilation and air for the colony. In warm 
weather especially, it is a mistake to ship a 
very strong colony, for they are almost certain 
to smother, as I know by some sad experiences. 
For this reason it is best to screen and pack the 
colony about noon, when a large number of 
bees are in the field, and on the stand from 
which the colony was taken there should be 
placed an empty hive with frames of full 

182 



LOCATION OF THE APIARY 

foundation, with a frame of unsealed brood in 
its centre, which will take care of the returning 
bees. A queen can be given to them, and in an 
incredibly short time the hive will build up to 
a strong colony. 

This method, however, should not be 
adopted, unless the colony so divided is un- 
usually strong. It is no detriment to the 
colony shipped, for by the time it reaches 
its destination, enough new bees will have 
hatched out to fill it full, and it has this ad- 
vantage to the buyer, that the bees in the 
colony will be largely young bees, and their 
gentleness will be a decided gain to him, as he 
can handle them with greater confidence. 

Some years ago beekeepers advocated 
migratory bee-keeping, believing that the colo- 
nies could be located in the far South at the 
opening of the early flows there, and be 
gradually moved north to take advantage of 
the continuing flows, and a gigantic crop 
secured ; but few have tried it, and those who 
have declare that the results do not warrant 

183 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

the effort. I have not heard of any phenom- 
enal crops being, gathered by this method. 
The majority of beekeepers are content to 
leave their home and out apiaries in their 
permanent locations, and where a section is 
found to be unusually good, an out apiary is 
established at that point. This has proved 
to be the most satisfactory and profitable 
plan. 

Before closing this chapter, a few words 
concerning out apiaries seem necessary. It 
is the fear of overstocking a given location 
that has led to the adoption of out apiaries, 
but after all is said, the danger of overstock- 
ing is more imaginary than real, if a little 
care is exercised. 

There are few locations that will not sup- 
port as many as one hundred colonies, and 
add a goodly surplus at that, and if one hun- 
dred colonies are the limit, it will be better 
to keep them all at the home yard than to go 
to the extra trouble of establishing an out 
yard. 

184 



LOCATION OF THE APIARY 

If one hundred and fifty or several hun- 
dred colonies are to be kept, then it becomes 
an absolute necessity to establish some out 
yards, and if one hundred and fifty are to be 
kept it will be best to put, say, seventy-five 
hives in the home yard, and seventy-five in 
an out yard, say from three to five miles from 
home; and these out yards can be so located 
along the line of trolley and railroad as to be 
of easy access by their operator. 

It is a disputed question how far bees will 
travel from their homes in quest of nectar; 
some authorities go so far as to say that bees 
will travel a distance of five miles or more, 
but, generally speaking, three miles will be 
their limit, and even if the apiaries are located 
but three miles from each other (though five 
miles would be better), there is not a great 
deal of danger in the matter of crowding, as 
many experiments have proved. 

There are some beekeepers fortunately loca- 
ted, notably the late Mr. Alexander of Delanson, 
who is in the midst of the buckwheat country of 

185 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

New York state, who kept all of his hives, some 
eight hundred, located in the one home yard, 
and during favorable years produced in 
the neighborhood of eighty thousand pounds 
of extracted honey, principally buckwheat. 
This, however, is an exceptional case, and 
the average location will demand the keep- 
ing of not more than one hundred hives in 
one yard; in case a large number of colo- 
nies are kept, a system of out apiaries is ab- 
solutely essential to success. 

The novice will be wise to go slowly in the 
matter of out apiaries, until he has the neces- 
sary experience to make it a success. 



186 



CHAPTER XIV 

DISEASES AND ENEMIES OF BEES 

"DEES, like all other stock, may be subject 
-*^ to disease, and other enemies that will 
ravage them if the conditions are favorable, 
but as a matter of fact the danger is very re- 
mote if the bees are given the proper care they 
demand. In my many years of experience, 
I have never had a case of disease among my 
bees, and the predations of natural enemies 
such as birds, skunks, snakes, and mice have 
been of such rare occurrence as to be in- 
finitesimal factors in all the years that have 
passed. It is well, however, to describe some 
of the diseases to which bees are prone, and 
to point out preventive and curative measures 
for any possible condition that may arise. 

Foul Brood is the most dreaded of diseases. 
It is of two varieties, the American and the 

187 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

European, and, unless speedily cured, will in 
a short time ravish and destroy an entire 
apiary. 

It is primarily a bacterial disease of the 
larva, and when once a spore of the disease 
takes possession of a larva, it spreads with 
wonderful rapidity. 

It is usually transmitted to a healthy colony 
in one of two ways : either by the introduction 
of a new queen that may have come from 
some section of the country where the disease 
is prevalent, or by the bees of a healthy 
colony robbing honey from an infected hive, 
and the spores carried in the honey that was 
robbed. This danger has led a great many 
beekeepers to kill all of the attendant bees 
that accompany the queen in her journey 
through the mails, and reserve only the queen 
for introduction; and this is a most excellent 
precautionary measure to adopt. 

Beginners are very liable to confuse chilled 
dead brood, or pickled brood, with foul brood, 
and become needlessly alarmed; but when 

188 



DISEASES AND ENEMIES OF BEES 

once the real thing has taken possession of a 
colony, the condition of the brood, and the 
terrible stench, will enable him to detect its 
presence at once. The American foul brood 
is easily distinguished from the European 
foul or black brood by its sticky or ropy 
nature, as a very easy test will prove. One 
of its first symptoms is that some of the brood 
will fail to hatch, and the cappings of the cells 
will assume a sunken appearance, and if a 
match or wooden toothpick is inserted into 
the cell and gently pulled out, a foul-smelling 
mucilaginous substance will adhere to it. 
The larva soon loses its shape, and becomes 
a sticky mass, smelling very much like ordi- 
nary glue. The offensive odor is not very 
pronounced in its early stages, but as the 
disease advances, it becomes more and more 
noticeable. 

The larvae that are attacked are usually 
sealed over by the bees, but this is not always 
the case, as it frequently happens that the 
unsealed brood is destroyed, especially if the 

189 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

infection is well under way, and the bacteria 
fully at work. The color of the sticky mass 
is like strong coffee with milk added, but since 
these conditions prevail to a certain extent in 
the cases of chilled and pickled brood, we 
cannot be sure it is the real foul brood un- 
less we test it with a toothpick or match as 
outlined above; if it adheres to the match, 
and can be drawn out to a distance of one- 
half or one inch, we can then be reasonably 
certain that we have a case of real foul brood 
on hand. 

The progress of this disease is very rapid, 
as all the combs of the hive are more or 
less certain to be infected, the honey included, 
and when the queen lays new eggs the honey 
that is fed to the larvae will contain a lot of 
spores, and the new larvae will in turn become 
diseased. 

After a time the bacteria are so prevalent 
in the hive that no brood can be reared, and 
as the old bees die off the colony becomes so 
weak that it becomes an easy prey to robber 

190 



DISEASES AND ENEMIES OF BEES 

bees, who will in turn carry its infected honey 
to healthy colonies, and in this way the disease 
will spread with alarming rapidity. 

Sometimes a beginner will imagine he has 
a case of foul brood because the bees in warm 
weather will sometimes leave the cappings of 
brood they are sealing in an unfinished shape, 
so that there will be a small pinhole opening in 
the centre of the cell, but if the larvae are nice 
and white, there is no occasion for alarm. In 
the case of foul brood the perforation will not 
be regular and rounded, but will have ragged 
edges, and this is due to the fact that the bees 
seem to have an instinct that something is 
wrong with the brood, since it fails to hatch, 
and they tear away a part of the cappings to 
determine what is the matter. 

The best preventive measure is to take 
such good care of every colony that it is al- 
ways strong, for bees are like human beings, 
the stronger are better able to resist disease 
in every form; and as a rule a strong colony 
is seldom affected unless the spores are directly 

191 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

introduced by the bees from some already 
infected source. 

After the treatment of a diseased colony, 
it is absolutely essential that all tools and 
implements that have been used shall be kept 
from the other bees till they have been thor- 
oughly boiled and sterilized, if they are to be 
used again on a healthy colony. Even the 
clothing that was worn while treating a dis- 
eased colony is a perfect means of transmission, 
and there have been cases where careless 
inspectors of foul brood have gone from a 
diseased apiary to a healthy one without 
change or fumigation of their wearing apparel, 
and rendered the infection of the healthy 
apiary almost a foregone conclusion. The 
entrance to the hive of a diseased colony should 
be made smaller to prevent the possibility of 
robbing, and all manipulation shouM be done 
late in the day after the bees have ceased to 
fly, or serious consequences will follow. A 
great many curative methods have been tried in 
the past, using salicylic acid, phenol, carbolic 

19£ 



DISEASES AND ENEMIES OF BEES 

acid, and formaldehyde, but the results were 
in no sense satisfactory. 

William McEvoy of Woodburn, Ontario, 
Canada, claims to have had great success in 
the treatment of thousands of colonies, and he 
puts them back into the hives out of which 
they came; but there have been a large num- 
ber of cases where the disease has appeared 
again in the hives whose bodies and fixtures 
were not disinfected. His plan is to take the 
infected colony in the height of the honey sea- 
son, and in the evening shake the bees from 
their infected combs into their old hive, 
giving them frames with foundation starters, 
and let them work on them for four days. 
The bees will in that time have worked out 
some comb, and have stored in it all the dis- 
eased honey they carried in their sacs from 
the diseased combs, and then in the evening 
of the fourth day, he takes the new combs out 
ajud shakes the bees on new frames of founda- 
tion; and he claims that the cure will be 
complete as all the infected combs with their 
o 193 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

honey will be removed from the hive. He 
does not advocate the disinfection of the old 
hive, but a little extra work in this respect 
will save worry and possible return of the 
disease, and for one's peace of mind it will be 
well to pour a strong solution of boiling water 
and carbolic acid over the hive body, lid, and 
bottom, letting it soak in all sides and run 
into every crevice. 

A good plan for disinfection of the hive body 
is to pour some gasolene all over it and touch 
a match to it and let it burn off, and if too 
much is not used, and the blaze carefully 
watched, no harm will result to the hive. 
The old combs should be burned over a good 
fire and the ashes buried, this work being 
done at night; but if the combs are filled with 
honey, the honey can be extracted and boiled, 
and used for feed, but there is always the 
possibility of infected honey, with its fearful 
consequences, remaining in the extractor. 

European foul or black brood differs in 
many ways from the American foul brood, and 

194 



DISEASES AND ENEMIES OF BEES 

first made its appearance in this country in 
New York state. Many an apiary was devas- 
tated by it, and it has been only in recent 
years that we seem to have found a cure. 

While this form of foul brood in some 
respects is similar to the American kind, yet 
there are several respects in which it very 
materially differs. In the first place, it is very 
rarely ropy in its consistency, and the dead 
larva seldom loses its shape and becomes a 
sticky mass, but on the contrary, it assumes 
a watery consistency, and confines itself to 
the grub itself, which in time turns a dark 
brown. I have seen it a coffee black in some 
hives that were infected. Only in its latter 
stages does it become offensive like American 
foul brood, but even then it is hardly as foul- 
smelling. 

Mr. E. F. Phillips, Ph.D., in charge of the 
Department of Apiculture at Washington, 
D.C., is one of the leading experts on bee 
diseases and will gladly render a report on any 
specimen that may be sent to him in a tightly 

195 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

sealed tin box; so that any beekeeper may 
determine beyond the shadow of a doubt just 
what disease he has to contend with. 

The usual treatment for black brood up to 
a short time ago was identically the same as 
that used for American foul brood, but dur- 
ing recent years the late Mr. Alexander, of 
Delanson, New York, experimented for a 
considerable period and finally discovered a 
treatment that seems to be effective in every 
case. His plan was to remove from every 
diseased colony its queen, and by cutting out 
all queen cells already started, leave the 
colony in a hopelessly queenless condition for 
at least three weeks, during which period no 
new brood developed. During this time all 
of the healthy brood in the hive will hatch, 
and the colony, in anticipation of a new queen, 
will, as all queenless colonies do, clean out and 
polish every cell for the new eggs; this clean- 
ing and polishing process seems to eradicate 
the disease completely. Some beekeepers were 
not very successful in following this method, 

196 



DISEASES AND ENEMIES OF BEES 

but in the hands of Mr. Alexander it was a pro- 
nounced success, and a personal examination 
of some colonies that were treated the season 
before failed to reveal to me any indication of 
the presence of foul brood in any form. 

It might be said that during a good honey 
flow a strong colony runs little chance of be- 
coming diseased. Do all the work with a 
diseased colony in the evening, and prevent 
even a single bee from another colony getting 
access to any of the diseased honey or imple- 
ments, for one bee carrying even the minutest 
drop of infected honey to a healthy hive can 
spread the germs as effectively as a thousand. 

Bee Paralysis is another disease that is 
sometimes found in warm climates, but is 
rarely known in the North, and, as a whole 
colony is seldom affected by it, it is not a cause 
for alarm. 

An occasional bee with its abdomen greatly 
distended will be found crawling along the 
alighting-board evidently in an effort to get 
away from the hive to die; and this is about the 

197 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

extent of its ravages in the North; though 
the ravages of the disease in warm climates 
have been known to clean out an entire apiary, 
and is as dreaded as foul brood. Sometimes 
the removal and killing of the queen will work 
a cure, and would seem to indicate that the 
disease was inherited from the queen, but 
some experiments have proved that dequeen- 
ing fails to accomplish the desired result. 
Perhaps the best way to cure it is to remove 
from the diseased hive all of its frames of 
brood and give them without their bees to a 
strong colony for a day or more, and giving 
a liberal sprinkling of powdered sulphur to the 
bees remaining in the affected colony; thus a 
cure is generally accomplished. 

Spring dwindling of a colony is not a disease, 
but rather a condition, and is usually the 
result of a cold spell following the removal of 
bees from their winter cellars. Uniting such 
colonies has not proved the best plan, and a 
much better one is to place a queen-excluding 
zinc on top of a strong colony and on it set the 

198 



DISEASES AND ENEMIES OF BEES 

dwindled one, queen, bees, combs, and all, 
and when it has built up to fair strength, put 
it back on its stand. 

There are a number of enemies that prey 
upon the bees, and as some of them are hard 
to reach, and as the results of their predations 
are minor, it is one of the phases of bee-keeping 
where the beekeeper has to take a chance, as it 
were. There are certain insectivorous birds 
that catch and eat bees while in flight, and 
many a good virgin queen in her matrimonial 
flight has been gobbled up, but this is a chance 
we have to take, and I know no means of 
stopping it. In warm climates the dragon 
flies kill a large number of virgin queens when 
in flight, and in certain sections they are so 
numerous that commercial queen-rearing is 
well nigh an impossibility. 

Frogs will often in the cool of the evening 
place themselves at the entrance of a hive of 
bees, and many a luckless bee has been en- 
snared in their long tongues to make a tasty 
morsel for them. Field ihice and small 

199 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

snakes will often invade a hive, and if the 
colony is weak will work havoc with the 
combs, but, with the exception of mice, the 
setting of the hive upon a stand a foot or so 
above the ground will prevent their ravages. 

An apiary is very likely to be the lurking- 
place of skunks, who seem to have a fondness 
for bees, and the little rascals will, in the 
shadow of night, scratch on the alighting- 
board of a hive to lure the sentinels out for 
investigation, only to be gobbled up by their 
odoriferous enemies. A few traps baited with 
the proper bait will soon rid the yard of these 
pests; but care should be used in their han- 
dling if they are still alive when trapped. 

In some sections of the country, the fond- 
ness of bears for honey has led them to topple 
over the hives and work much damage, but a 
little watchfulness on the part of the beekeeper, 
with the aid of a good rifle, will result in break- 
ing it up. 

Sometimes a mouse or small snake will 
invade a strong colony and be stung to death, 

200 



DISEASES AND ENEMIES OF BEES 

and when the bees find that they are unable 
to remove the carcass, they will proceed to 
propolize or mummify it and glue it securely 
to the bottom board of the hive. In lifting 
hives, with their bottom boards, I have fre- 
quently found a live snake, or nest of mice, 
enticed there no doubt by the warmth of the 
hive and the possibilities of a rich repast; 
but as these are things of but rare occurrence, 
no serious harm is likely to occur. 



201 



CHAPTER XV 

MARKETING THE HONEY CROP 

A FTER the surplus honey has been 
-^-^ gathered, whether it be comb or ex- 
tracted, its proper grading, packing, and 
marketing is an important factor, as these 
things added to the quality of the crop will 
with a little attention mean the securing of a 
better price for the output, and whether the 
crop be large or small, is an item worth con- 
sidering. 

Where the apiary is of moderate size, there 
is no better place to sell the crop than right 
at home or in a near-by town, as the reputa- 
tion of the beekeeper, supplemented by a 
high-grade article, will result in high prices. 
The honey package should be attractive 
whether it be wholesaled or retailed, and a 
package a little more attractive than that of 
the other dealers means increased revenue. 

202 



MARKETING THE HONEY CROP 

If the crop is extracted and is intended for 
the commission trade or the wholesale bottler, 
there is no better package than new five-gal- 
lon cans, two of which come in a wooden case. 
Being in cans, it is more easily handled by 
the commission merchant and the bottler, 
and in this shape will bring a little higher 
price than if sent in wooden kegs with the 
attendant labor of scooping it out for liquefy- 
ing. 

Use nothing but new, clean cans, and have 
the early light honey separate from the later 
dark honey; and be sure of the honesty of 
the commission merchant, for thereby hangs 
many a sad tale. 

It will be far more profitable to bottle your 
extracted honey in an attractive bottle and 
work up a trade among the retail grocery 
houses, as it means securing about fifteen 
cents a pound net profit as against about seven 
cents a pound net profit when sold wholesale. 

The standard package for the retail is a 
glass jar holding just one pound, and a nicely 

203 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

printed label with a half-tone cut of the 
apiary and a statement of the purity of the 
honey will make for it a very ready sale. 
These jars can be procured from the manufac- 
turers^ and as they come in reshipping cases 
holding two dozen, each can be shipped very 
handily when filled. 

By the time you are ready to bottle your 
honey it will in all probability be granulated, 
which in itself is a test of its purity; and to 
return it to its liquid state it will be necessary 
to heat it to about one hundred and fifty 
degrees and hold it there for about three hours; 
but do not under any circumstances heat it 
above one hundred and sixty degrees, or you 
will spoil its delicate aroma and reduce its 
value. A large tin boiler or galvanized square 
can can be made at slight cost; it should be 
eighteen inches deep, and in this boiler over 
a gasolene or cook stove, with a block of 
wood underneath each can of honey, one or 
two of the sixty-pound cans can be placed, 
with their caps removed, and the boiler filled 

204 



MARKETING THE HONEY CROP 

nearly full of water. When the water heats 
to the desired point, it should be kept there 
for about three hours, and when the honey 
in the cans is nice and clear, which it will 
be if it was properly strained at time of ex- 
tracting, the little one-pound jars should be 
filled with the hot honey and capped at once, 
when they are ready for the stores to which 
they are to be sent. 

A most excellent jar for this purpose is the 
Hazel Atlas Simplex, a jar with a glass cap 
and a waxed ring, and attractive to the eye. 
Another good package for the home trade, if 
a house-to-house canvass is to be made, is the 
ordinary quart preserve or canning- jar, and 
as the housewife can make use of this jar after 
it is emptied, this style of package will ap- 
peal to her. 

The county fairs held in the fall form an 
excellent medium for the sale of honey, as 
the beekeeper can have a booth and an obser- 
vation hive at hand with live bees in it, and 
such an exhibit will always attract a crowd. 

205 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

Sometimes it is a good thing to take the 
extracting cage referred to in another part 
of this book, and in it have a hive of live 
bees. The operator can then go through an 
interesting performance that will astonish 
the natives, and secure a large sale of his 
honey. 

Other beekeepers take a little cage of live 
bees under their arms and visit the business 
offices of our large cities, taking orders for 
honey in gallon cans at $2 a gallon to be sent 
by express C. O. D. at the expense of the 
buyer; in this way a profitable employment 
is secured for the beekeeper during the entire 
winter months, with a larger profit for his 
honey than if it were sent to the city whole- 
sale. 

Where the output runs up into many tons, 
it will be more satisfactory for the producer 
to send it to the cities in bulk, but even in this 
case there is no reason why the producer 
should not dispose of a large amount of his 
output to the grocery trade in bottles, and 

206 



MARKETING THE HONEY CROP 

reap the benefits of the increased price se- 
cured. 

Generally speaking, there is seldom more 
than one beekeeper in business on an exten- 
sive scale in a given place, and he will have 
little difficulty in disposing of his crop at horne 
and in near-by towns to both stores and 
families. This will necessitate the use of 
a horse and wagon, but the greater profit 
will make this plan advisable, and it is fol- 
lowed by hundreds of beekeepers every year. 
I know an old man seventy years of age, who 
puts his honey up in quart jars, and visits 
the factories and shops at the noon hour, 
giving a little talk on bees, who has sold as 
much as $2000 worth of honey in a single 
year. He gets fifty cents a quart for his 
honey. 

Sometimes in a large city a vacant store on a 
busy thoroughfare can be rented for a month, 
and a display of live bees and honey will 
result in large sales at fancy prices, as bees 
are a source of interest to city folk. Depart- 

207 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

ment stores are good customers and are glad 
to have an exhibit of live bees in observation 
hives together with a nice display of honey, 
as such exhibits draw a crowd and result in 
business in all departments. 

With the new pure food laws in operation, 
the beekeeper is having his day, as he no 
longer has to compete with mixtures of honey 
and glucose masquerading under the name 
of pure honey, as was formerly the case. In 
the matter of honey these laws are rigidly 
enforced, and adulterated honey is required 
to have a statement on every package, stating 
just what the adulterant is and in what pro- 
portions. Few people will buy such stuff 
when they can secure the real thing at a mod- 
erate price. 

Comb honey has to be prepared in an en- 
tirely different way to be placed on the market, 
and unless great caution is exercised in the 
matter of packing, serious breakage of the 
combs will follow. Each section should be 
carefully scraped of all particles of propolis, 

208 



MARKETING THE HONEY CROP 

and the honey according to its appearance 
carefully graded and marked. The ordi- 
nary shipping-cases with glass on one side 
and corrugated paper in the bottom, and hold- 
ing twenty-four sections, is the best all-round 
package that can be used, and these cases 




No-Drip Shipping-Case. 

can be purchased at moderate cost from any 
of the supply houses that make them espe- 
cially for the comb honey producers. 

Under no circumstances should these cases 

be shipped individually. A number of them 

should be packed in a crate with projecting 

strips for handles, and the bottom of the 

p 209 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

crate filled with at least six inches of hay or 
straw to act as a cushion for the honey and 
prevent its breakage in transit. . 

It is the poorest of policies to face the glass 
end of each case with the best sections, and 
put the poorer ones at the back, as the trick will 




Shipping-Crate. 

sooner or later be discovered to the detriment 
of the shipper. A better plan is to select 
and grade all the best sections and put them 
in cases by themselves, and crate the poorer 
ones by themselves; the additional price of 
the first grade will average the price in a 
satisfactory manner. 

In scraping the propolis from the sections 
nothing is better than a broad-bladed butcher 

210 



MARKETING THE HONEY CROP 

knife. Unless you are careful, there will be 
more or less gashing of the surfaces of the 
sections with its resulting drippings, which 
will make them sticky and unsightly, and 
greatly reduce their value. Though there is 
no reason why there should not be a universal 
rule for grading comb honey, certain rules 
prevail of a twofold character, known as 
"Rules for Western Beekeepers," and "Rules 
for Eastern Beekeepers." 

The Eastern Grading Rules read as fol- 
lows : — 

Fancy. — All sections well filled: combs 
straight, firmly attached to all four sides; combs 
unsoiled by travel stain or otherwise; all the 
cells sealed except an occasional one; the outside 
surface of the wood well scraped of propolis. 

A No. 1 . — All sections well filled except the 
row of cells next to the wood; combs straight; 
one-eighth part of the comb surface soiled, or 
the entire surface slightly soiled; the outside 
surface of the wood well scraped of propolis. 

No. 1. — All sections well filled except the 
211 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

row of cells next to the wood; combs com- 
paratively even; one-eighth part of the comb 
surface soiled, or the entire surface slightly soiled. 

No. 2. — Three-fourths of the total surface 
must be filled and sealed. 

No. 3. — Must weigh at least half as much 
as a full-weight section. 

In addition the honey must be classified 
according to color, using the terms white, 
amber, and dark ; that is, there will be, "Fancy 
White," "No. 1 dark," etc. 
. These are the result of the action of the 
National Beekeepers' Association in convention 
in Washington, D.C., in December, 1892. 

The Colorado Beekeepers' Association 
adopted the following rules, which prevail 
west of the Mississippi: — 

NEW COMB-HONEY GRADING-RULES ADOPTED 
BY THE COLORADO STATE BEEKEEPERS* 
ASSOCIATION 

No. 1 White. — Sections to be well filled 
and evenly capped except the outside row, 

212 



MARKETING THE HONEY CROP 

next to the wood; honey white or slightly 
amber, comb and cappings white, and not 
projecting beyond the wood ; wood to be well 
cleaned; cases of separatored honey to aver- 
age 21 pounds net per case of 24 sections, no 
section in this grade to weigh less than 13 J 
ounces. 

Cases of half- separatored honey to average 
not less than 22 pounds net per case of 24 
sections. 

Cases of unseparatored honey to average 
not less than 23 pounds net per case of 24 
sections. 

No. 1 Light Amber. — Sections to be well 
filled and evenly capped, except the outside 
row, next to the wood; honey white or light 
amber; comb and cappings from white to 
off color, but not dark; comb not projecting 
beyond the wood ; wood to be well cleaned. 

Cases of separatored honey to average 21 
pounds net per case of 24 sections ; no section 
in this grade to weigh less than 13 J ounces. 

Cases of half-separatored honey to average 
£13 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

not less than 22 pounds net per case of 24 
sections. 

Cases of unseparatored honey to average 
not less than 23 pounds net per case of 24 
sections. 

No. 2. — This includes all white honey, 
and amber honey not included in the above 
grades; sections to be fairly well filled and 
capped, no more than 25 uncapped cells, 
exclusive of outside row, permitted in this 
grade, wood to be well cleaned, no section 
in this grade to weigh less than 12 ounces. 

Cases of separatored honey to average not 
less than 19 pounds net. 

Cases of half-separatored honey to average 
not less than 20 pounds net per case of 24 
sections. 

Cases of half-separatored honey to average 
not less than 20 pounds net per case of 24 
sections. 

Cases of unseparatored honey to average 
not less than 21 pounds net per case of 24 
sections. 

214 



MARKETING THE HONEY CROP 

It can be seen by the above that the rules 
for the eastern beekeepers are a little more 
discriminating than the western standard, and 
enable the buyer to form a clearer idea of 
just the quality of the honey bought. 

When producing comb honey for market, 
the beekeeper has several styles and sizes 
of sections from which to select, though in 
each case the amount of honey will be nearly 
the same. Formerly the square section with 
the slotted bee- way was the only one that 
was used, but there is a growing demand for 
a plain section a little taller than wide, meas- 
uring 4 X 5 X 1|- inches, and although this sec- 
tion is a trifle thinner than the old style, 
yet it appears to have more honey, and is 
being adopted more and more by up-to-date 
beekeepers. 

There is a class of trade that demands that 
every section when it is packed shall be glazed, 
with pieces of glass fitted to each side of the 
surface of the wooden holder, and although 
they are a nuisance to prepare, it pays if the 

215 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

trade demands it, as a little higher price can 
be secured for the trouble, especially if a fancy 
paper border is used to secure the glass to 
the section. Where glass is not used, it is 
well to encase each section in a pasteboard 
carton, as it protects the honey and adds to 
the appearance of the section. 

If the faces of some combs are slightly 
stained, they can be bleached by placing them 
in a box or small room and fumigating them 
with the fumes of burning sulphur, or else 
they can be exposed to the direct rays of the 
sun, to accomplish the same result. 



216 



CHAPTER XVI 

BEESWAX ITS USES HOW TO RENDER IT 

"FN running an apiary, especially one main- 
•^ tained for extracted honey, large quan- 
tities of beeswax from cappings, old combs, 
and brace combs, will accumulate, and as 
beeswax is always in demand and sells at a 
good price, its proper care and rendering be- 
comes an important item. For many cen- 
turies, beeswax has been a much-needed 
commodity in almost every branch of work. 
Before the ingenuity of man made parchment 
as a medium for writing, tablets covered with 
beeswax were almost entirely used, and fulfilled 
a useful purpose. Owing to the fact that bees- 
wax will not rot, it was used by many nations 
to embalm their dead, and mummies that 
have lain for centuries upon examination show 
the wax used to be in a fine state of preserva- 
tion. 

217 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

The rubrics of the Catholic Church pre- 
scribe beeswax exclusively in the making of 
candles for solemn ceremonies, as it is secreted 
by a virgin insect. In the polishing of floors 
and furniture wax has been found a valuable 
adjunct, as its use adds to the beauty and life 
of the object polished. Sculptors, painters, 
dentists, and molders use large quantities 
of it, and in the arts and various departments 
of manufacture it has become so great a ne- 
cessity that there is never an over-production, 
and the beekeeper who has a goodly supply 
on hand will experience no diflSculty in ex- 
changing it at the supply houses for new 
sheets of foundation for both his brood and 
super frames. 

For the use of the beekeeper there has been 
found nothing that will take its place, al- 
though a long line of experiments with par- 
affin and ceresin have been made, without 
success, as the bees show a positive dislike 
for any other foundation than that made from 
pure beeswax. 

ns 



BEESWAX 

The making of beeswax by the bees is a 
very delicate and wonderful process, and if 
you will open a hive in the height of the honey 
flow when the bees are at work, a lot of the 
little disks will be found on the bottom board 
of the hive, and when examined under the 
microscope they are really beautiful. Before 
secreting wax, the bees fill themselves with 
honey and then hang in clusters in their 
hives; and by generating heat they are able 
to convert the honey into wax, which as small 
disks protrudes from the little wax scales 
located on the under side of the abdomen of 
the bee. 

Pattern-makers, machinists, and manufac- 
turers of shoe and furniture polish are ready 
to purchase at a good figure unlimited quanti- 
ties of pure beeswax, so it can be readily 
seen that there is a great demand for it, and 
the careful beekeeper will make it s. point 
to save every particle, melting and rendering 
it into commercial form at his convenience. 

It seems unfortunate that progressive meth- 
219 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

ods of beekeeping, as compared with the 
older methods, have restricted the production 
of beeswax in the apiary ; but as the progress 
has resulted in a greater production of honey, 
there is no actual loss in profit. When bees 
were largely kept in the old-fashioned box 
hives the bees were brimstoned to get the 
honey, and as the combs were usually mashed 
and strained, there was of necessity a larger 
amount of beeswax secured each season. 

With the use of the modern extractor, the 
honey is extracted from the combs by centrif- 
ugal force, and the combs used year after year, 
so that the proportion of beeswax to honey 
secured is not as great as formerly; the 
honey-producer of to-day is dependent upon 
the cappings from the frames extracted, old 
combs, brace and bur combs, but even at 
that the revenue from these sources is con- 
siderable. As the wax accumulates it should 
be kept in a cool place, so that it will not 
become a breeding-place for the wax moth 
and be ruined, and for this reason it is well 

220 



BEESWAX 

to melt and render it before it becomes at- 
tacked. 

There are many methods of rendering old 
wax, and the beekeeper is allowed large lati- 
tude in the matter of selection. One of the 
older methods was to j&ll a porous sack or bag 
with cappings, old combs, and other waxen 
refuse and to weigh it down in a large kettle, 
covering it with water and allowing it to boil 
until the wax began to rise, and when the 
water became cold a cake of wax would form 
at the top. At best this method was far from 
satisfactory, as the cake was more or less 
burned or water-soaked, and filled with more 
or less dregs of matter from the old combs 
from which it was rendered. 

About 1862 the first solar wax extractor 
was invented in California, and was first used 
for extracting the honey from the combs, 
but later it was used solely for melting wax, 
and even to-day is extensively used in many 
of the largest apiaries in the world. These 
solar wax extractors were little more than 

221 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

large boxes covered with glass in which old 
combs were placed and exposed to the rays 
of the sun, and toward evening as the day 
grew cooler the wax, because of its lightness, 
was found in sheets on top of the honey. 

Doolittle, Boardman, Rauchfuss, and others 
invented solar wax extractors which were 
more or less adopted, but in principle they 
were practically the same, and depended upon 
the sun's rays shining through glass to do the 
work. 

While the solar wax extractor can be 
depended upon to do a certain amount of 
rendering, especially where capping and new 
combs are put into them, yet when it comes 
to getting the wax out of old dark combs, 
they have their limit, and compel us to resort 
to another method. The only satisfactory way 
to render wax is by some method by which 
the old combs can be enclosed in a sack 
and subjected to pressure while surrounded 
by steam. This method is not entirely new, 
though some of the appliances are, and were 



BEESWAX 



used in Germany many years ago, where it 
originated, but it remained for America to 
invent a satisfactory press, several makes of 
which are on the market, all capable of doing 
excellent work. 

Some of these 
presses extract the 
wax under pressure 
at the time the steam 
is surging through 
the mass, as in the 
case of the German 
Wax Press and the 
Hershiser Wax 
Press, while others 
extract the wax 
under pressure after 
the heated sack has 
been taken from the steamer, and Messrs. Hatch 
and Gamil were successful pioneers in the per- 
fection of the press that bears their names. 
The latter plan is perhaps the best, and is fast 
being adopted, as experience proves that there is 

223 




German Steam Wax Press. 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

less wax left in the slumgum, as the refuse is 
called, than under other methods. 

The old combs and pieces of wax are en- 
cased in a stout bag and boiled for a few min- 
utes, then lifted and poured out of the bag, 
about a gallon at a time, and, when the cloths 
of the press are firmly secured about it, pres- 
sure is exerted, and the water and practically 
all of the wax will run out of the press into the 
bucket or other vessel that has been put into 
position to receive it, and when the water is 
cooled the cake of wax is ready for removal. 
Repeating the process, using about a gallon 
of the mass at a time, it is surprising how 
much wax will be secured within a short time. 
An up-to-date wax press is not expensive, 
and as it does its work so much better than 
the many homemade makeshifts that are 
used, it is economy to buy one, as the extra 
amount of wax obtained from the slumgum 
will pay for it in a short time. 

If the wax secured is intended for the manu- 
facturers of foundation, it can be shipped 

224 



BEESWAX 

just as it comes from the press; but if it is 
for general use, it should be remelted and 
molded in little tins, and in the melting an 
iron kettle should be avoided, as it has a 
tendency to discolor the wax and render its 
sale difficult. 

Manufacturers of comb foundation say 
that hardly two lots of wax that they receive 
are uniform in color; this is due to the pres- 
ence of more or less foreign substances, and 
to reduce it all to its original yellowness, it 
is necessary for them to treat it to a bleaching 
process with sulphuric acid. 

The following is the method of bleaching 
used by the A. I. Root Co. 

HOW TO REFINE WAX WITH SULPHURIC ACID 

Wax cakes, as they are bought up, are 
usually of all grades and colors. The differ- 
ence in color is due largely to the amount of 
impurities the wax contains. In all the 
years that we have been in the business we 
have found no practical or satisfactory way 
Q 225 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

of bringing the wax to a yellow color — that 
IS, to its original state of purity, except by 
treating it with acid. 

The method, in brief, is as follows: Fill a 
wooden tank or barrel a quarter full of water, 
and add cakes of wax until nearly full. The 
water is then boiled until all the wax is melted, 
when a quantity of commercial sulphuric acid 
is poured in, and the boiling continued until all 
is thoroughly mixed. The heat is then removed 
and the impurities are allowed to settle. 

For a detailed account, it may be well to 
describe our own system of refining wax. 
Our tank is a little over three and one-half feet 
in diameter, and about five feet high. Water 
is run into it to a depth of twelve inches, 
and then fifteen hundred pounds of wax are 
thrown in, making it about full. The mass 
is then heated by means of a jet of steam from 
a pipe projecting down into the water from 
the top. When all the wax is melted, the acid 
is poured in. If the wax is dark, seven pints 
of acid are used ; but if light enough to make 

226 



BEESWAX 

surplus foundation, not more than three quarts 
are used. If the wax is already of good 
quality, so small an amount as two quarts of 
acid will answer. On the average, therefore, 
we use three quarts of acid to eighty gallons 
of water for fifteen hundred pounds of wax. 
Soon after this is poured in, the color of the 
boiling wax will be seen to grow lighter, and, 
after a minute or so, the boiling is stopped. 

The steam pipe is now drawn out, and the 
tank covered with a cloth or carpet, and al- 
lowed to stand as many hours as the wax will 
remain liquid, or about twenty-four hours. 
At the expiration of this time the water and 
acid will have settled to the bottom by reason 
of their greater specific gravity ; and the acid, 
in turn, having a greater specific gravity than 
that of water, will settle to the bottom of the 
water; and the consequence is, that the wax 
itself, after being purified, is allowed to be- 
come thoroughly cleansed of any residue of 
acid, and the dirt accumulation will all have 
settled to the bottom of the wax and into the 

227 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

water. The melted wax is now drawn of? 
from the top, and poured into any sort of 
receptacles with flaring sides. When the wax 
is nearly to the bottom, or when it shows 
evidence of coming near the dirt, the rest 
is allowed to stand. As soon as it is caked 
in the tank it is lifted out, and the dirt cling- 
ing to the bottom scraped off. 

Rendering wax at best is a troublesome 
and messy job, and it is possible to work much 
damage to a carpet or a suit of clothes that 
is of far more value than the little wax that 
may be secured where the beekeeper has but 
a few hives. ' 

If the rendering is done in the house kitchen, 
spread some paper — newspapers will do — on 
the floor, and go about the work slowly and 
carefully. If at the close of the work the wax 
is smeared over kettles and pans, it can be 
removed by immersing the utensils in boiling 
water for a while, and rubbing them with 
a cloth that has been saturated with benzine. 

228 



BEESWAX 

Muffin tins, egg cups, pails, or any recep- 
tacles of proper size may be used to pour the 
melted wax into for molding, first wetting 
the vessel with water, and when the wax has 
cooled into solid cakes it can be dumped out 
and is ready for market. Some of the supply 
houses make little tins for molding the wax 
into cakes that retail for ten cents, and these 
are a help where the wax is to be sold in the 
home town or placed with the grocery trade 
for sale. Little candles made of beeswax give 
a brilliant light and throw off a delicate per- 
fume ; the molds and wicks for making them 
can be had at slight cost, and their sale brings 
the highest prices for the wax that is used. 

I know of one beekeeper who is able to 
make a dozen of these little candles from a 
pound of beeswax, and he has no difficulty 
in getting $1 a dozen for them. By all means 
husband your old combs and cappings, as the 
revenue derived from them will often pay for 
the foundation that from time to time has to be 
bought for brood frames and section boxes. 



CHAPTER XVII 

HONEY AS A FOOD AND MEDICINE 

TTONEY is being more and more recog- 
-*--*- nized as a necessity and not as for- 
merly a luxury, and could its food and health- 
giving qualities be better known, it would 
appear more often on the bill of fare than it 
does. 

In looking over the various dictionaries 
I fail to find a correct scientific definition of 
the constituents of honey, and only succeeded 
in finding the following definition in Phin's 
Dictionary of Beekeeping : — 

"Honey contains four different kinds of 
sugar: (1) Cane sugar (though this is not al- 
ways present); (2) fruit sugar or glucose; 
(3) invert sugar, so-called because it turns the 
plane of polarization to the left, or inverts 
the action of the fruit sugar; (4) a sugar of 

230 



HONEY A FOOD AND MEDICINE 

which little is known, but which is evidently 
a distinct variety. 

" Under the peculiar action of the ferment 
(enzyme) previously mentioned, and which 
is generally present, the cane sugar gradually 
changes to sugar of the second and third 
kinds; and as these are less soluble than cane 
sugar, the clear limpid fluid gradually becomes 
opaque and granular, or in other words the 
honey is said to granulate." 

However vague the above description may 
be, honey in the public mind means nectar 
secreted by the flowers of the field and gath- 
ered by the bees and thoroughly ripened in 
the hive. Honey will vary in its color and 
flavor according to the source from which it 
was gathered, the clover being mild in flavor 
while that from buckwheat is pronounced. 
Notwithstanding this variation in color and 
flavor, the food value of all honey is practically 
the same, the particular flavor desired being 
largely a matter of choice. 

Before the passage of the Hepburn Pure 
231 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

Food Law in America on June 30, 1906, a 
great deal of adulterated honey was sold to 
the public, but since the passage of the above 
law, the public is reasonably certain of get- 
ting pure honey. 

Honey as Food 

The American nation consumes an enor- 
mous amount of sugar, averaging nearly 
eighty pounds per head, and the people of 
the British Isles ten pounds more. The 
increased consumption of sugar during the 
last few years has been phenomenal, and even 
people in moderate circumstances consume a 
large amount. Honey sells in some states for 
very little more than good cane sugar. 

Honey is much superior to sugar in several 
respects. It has far more flavor and aroma, 
and for baking certain fancy cakes it has no 
equal; and for this reason will always com- 
mand a higher price than sugar. We know 
fastidious people are always willing to pay 
high prices for foods having fine flavors, and 

232 



HONEY A FOOD AND MEDICINE 

all physiologists are agreed that flavor has 
much to do with the dietetic value of a food 
by inducing a free flow of saliva and pro- 
moting digestion by its palatability. 

Honey is an excellent food in the preven- 
tion of fatigue, owing to the fact that, while 
it builds up the body, or rather makes up 
for the loss of tissue, it does not tax the sys- 
tem. The latter is not called upon to throw 
off or get rid of a mass of perfectly useless 
material, for it is undoubtedly true that not 
more than one two-hundredth part of honey 
is actual waste. Practically the human sys- 
tem uses up almost every particle of honey 
placed in the stomach. This can be said of 
no other food except sugar, which must un- 
dergo a process of inversion before the system 
can utilize it. Honey, on the other hand, 
is in a state of partial digestion before being 
eaten; and this, in addition to the very free 
flow of saliva induced by the flavor, causes it 
to be completely used up by the digestive 
system without straining it in the least — so 

233 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

much so, in fact, that many invalids and in- 
fants may use honey when sugar would be 
prejudicial. 

Honey, it is believed, after passing through 
the stomach, becomes glycogen by the action 
of the liver, and in this way is converted into 
heat and work. It differs from sugar in two 
important particulars. First, it does not re- 
quire to be "inverted," or converted into 
natural glucose (it is that already), a process 
which frequently leads to diabetes, and, again, 
it possesses an aroma and flavor which sugar 
does not. Moreover, it does not contain pow- 
erful chemicals, as sugar sometimes does. It 
is a purely natural production, and requires 
no cooking or preparation. 

There is almost an infinite variety of flavors 
in honey, so that the peculiar palate of every 
one may be suited. In dealing with children 
and delicate people this is important. In 
countries where the consumption of sugar is 
large, as in the United States, Canada, and 
the British Islands, Germany, Holland, and 

234 



HONEY A FOOD AND MEDICINE 

other northern lands, diabetes is quite com- 
mon. This is due to the fact that the system 
of those afflicted is so constituted that they 
are unable to convert ordinary sugar into glu- 
cose. There is always a certain number of 
such people in every community. Diabetes 
bears considerable resemblance to Bright' s 
disease of the kidneys, which is, however, 
due to an excess of albumen — not sugar. 

Children generally crave something sweet, 
and this is a perfectly healthy and natural 
longing which ought to be satisfied in some 
way. This is generally done by giving con- 
fectionery and sweetmeats, which frequently 
are indigestiblco Honey can be made to 
take their place with many children if it is 
allowed in the regular dietary. In this way 
the craving for sweets is very effectively met. 
In France and other parts of Europe the doc- 
tors recommend honey and cream, or honey 
and butter, in the treatment of consump- 
tively inclined children. They say this com- 
bination is better than cod-liver-oil emulsion, 

235 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

for the reason that it is much more palatable, 
and more satisfactory to the patient's stomach. 
A fine combination for fast-growing thin 
children is bread, butter, and honey. In 
this country any mother may try this bill of 
fare on her well-beloved children. She may 
feel certain that no better menu for a child 
can be suggested. Honey may be very effec- 
tively used in summer drinks, and should 
take the precedence of sugar in this respect, 
more particularly where workmen are em- 
ployed in hot and fatiguing work such as takes 
place in glass and iron factories. 

Immense quantities of honey are used by 
bakers, both in America and Europe. In this 
country alone the National Biscuit Company 
uses an amount which seems staggering to a 
man unacquainted with the industry. This 
concern recently purchased in one lot seventy 
carloads of good honey, and is always in the 
market for honey in big lots. There are no 
means of knowing just how much honey 
the baking industry uses in this country; but 

236 



HONEY A FOOD AND MEDICINE 

we do know it is very large indeed. The best 
bakers have discovered that honey is far supe- 
rior to sugar as a sweetening agent. The latter 
causes the cakes and bread made wdth it to 
dry up and become unpalatable in a few days ; 
whereas honey, on the other hand, causes them 
to remain sweet and moist for a long period. 
Cases are reported of honey- jumbles remain- 
ing moist for twelve years; and in France 
nobody thinks it is anything very wonderful to 
keep honey-bread a year or eighteen months, 
and yet have it remain perfectly good and 
satisfactory. If it is hard, it is simply put 
into a damp place for a few days, when it 
returns to its original condition. 

It is perfectly clear that, where bread and 
cakes are made in factories, they must have 
some "keeping" qualities; and by experi- 
ence the managers have found honey is the 
only acceptable agent for this purpose. At 
Dijon, in France, from time immemorial a 
kind of honey-bread (pain d'epice, or Leb- 
kuchen, as the Germans call it) has been 

237 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

made which has acquired a wide fame. It 
is made in other parts of Europe, but this 
place seems to excel in its production. The 
bakers there are fastidious, and cannot be 
induced to use any but buckwheat honey. 
They say they cannot risk their reputation by 
using any other. The honey is obtained in 
Brittany; and when it is used up the bakers 
will stop baking rather than use a substitute. 

Honey-bread is now made and sold in New 
York, and what we have used of it here in 
Medina proved to be very fine eating in- 
deed. The general opinion of it is, it would 
be very acceptable to dyspeptics or persons of 
impaired digestion, as it is very open and po- 
rous, and easily masticated. 

Honey-cakes and jumbles have been con- 
sumed in steadily increasing quantities of late 
years, and the demand increases by leaps and 
bounds, showing that consumers appreciate a 
really delicious and satisfactory food, no matter 
if it seems somewhat higher priced than similar 
foods. 



HONEY A FOOD AND MEDICINE 

A considerable amount of honey has also 
been used in confectionery. This demand is 
increasing; and in this connection beeswax 
is also used to some extent. The beeswax 
is used in about the same proportions that we 
find it in a piece of comb honey, and some 
actually buy comb honey for making con- 
fectionery. Honey-candies coated with choco- 
late are much consumed in Europe. 

Honey is largely used as a medicine and as a 
vehicle for administering nauseous medicines. 
It is so soothing in its action that it is used 
effectively for many purposes in the sick- 
room. In continental Europe the doctors 
constantly recommend and use honey. For 
some unexplained reason our medical men are 
not so favorable to honey as their European 
confreres, possibly because they are afraid 
of its adulteration. Since the passage of the 
national pure-food law there need be but little 
fear of this, and it may be freely recommended. 

Honey has an excellent effect on the skin, 
and for this reason is much used in soaps 

239 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

and similar preparations sought by ladies for 
softening the cuticle and improving the com- 
plexion. Salves are also improved by the use 
of honey and beeswax; in fact, the latter is 
considered the only proper substance for 
forming the base of ordinary salves. 

Very many of the so-called honey cooking 
recipes are untested, and hence worse than 
none; for when the ingredients are put 
together and cooked the result is vile. The 
recipes given below have been tested, and 
every one is guaranteed to be good. The 
honey- jumble recipe, for instance, is espe- 
cially good, as is the honey-cake recipe by 
Maria Eraser. 

HONEY COOKING RECIPES 

Honey-gems. — 2 qts. flour, 3 tablespoonfuls melted lard, 
f pt. honey, J pt. molasses, 4 heaping tablespoonfuls brown 
sugar, IJ level tablespoonfuls soda, 1 level teaspoonful salt, 
J pt. water, J teaspoonful extract vanilla. 

Honey- JUMBLES. — 2 qts. flour, 3 tablespoonfuls melted 
lard, 1 pt. honey, J pt. molasses, IJ level tablespoonfuls soda, 
1 level teaspoonful salt, i pt. water, § teaspoonful vanilla. 

240 



HONEY A FOOD AND MEDICINE 

These jumbles and the gems immediately preceding are 
from recipes used by bakeries and confectioneries on a large 
scale, one firm in Wisconsin alone using ten tons of honey 
annually in their manufacture. 

Honey-cake or Cookies without sugar or molasses. — 
2 cups honey; one cup butter; four eggs (mix well); one 
cup buttermilk (mix); one good qt. flour; one level tea- 
spoonful soda or saleratus. If it is too thin, stir in a little 
more flour. If too thin it will fall. It does not need to be as 
thin as sugar-cake. I use very thick honey. Be sure to use 
the same cup for measure. Be sure to mix the honey, butter, 
and eggs well together. You can make it richer if you wish 
by using clabbered cream instead of buttermilk. Bake in a 
rather slow oven, as it burns very easily. To make cookies, 
use a little more flour, so that they will roll out well without 
sticking to the board. Any kind of flavoring will do. I 
use ground orange-peel mixed soft. It makes a very nice 
gingerbread. Maria Fraser. 

Howell Honey-cake. — (It is a hard cake.) Take 6 lbs. 
flour, 3 lbs. honey, Ij lbs. sugar, Ij lbs. butter, 6 eggs, J oz. 
saleratus ; ginger to your taste. Directions for mixing. — 
Have the flour in a pan or tray. Pack a cavity in the centre. 
Beat the honey and yolks of eggs together well. Beat the 
butter and sugar to cream, and put into the cavity in the flour ; 
then add the honey and yolks of the eggs. Mix well with 
the hand, adding a little at a time, during the mixing, the \ oz. 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

saleratus dissolved in boiling water until it is all in. Add the 
ginger, and finally add the whites of the 6 eggs, well beaten. 
Mix well with the hand to a smooth dough. Divide the 
dough into 7 equal parts, and roll out like gingerbread. Bake 
in ordinary square pans made for pies, from 10 X 14 tin. 
After putting into the pans, mark off the top in J-inch strips 
with something sharp. Bake an hour in a moderate oven. Be 
careful not to burn, but bake well. Dissolve sugar to glaze 
over top of cake. To keep the cake, stand on end in an oak 
tub, tin can, or stone crock — crock is best. Stand the cards 
up so the flat sides will not touch each other. Cover tight. 
Keep in a cool dry place. Don't use until three months old 
at least. The cake improves with age, and will keep good as 
long as you will let it. I find any cake sweetened with honey 
does not dry out like sugar or molasses cake, and age improves 
or develops the honey flavor. E. D. Howell. 

Aikin's Honey-cookies. — 1 teacupful extracted honey, 
1 pt. sour cream, scant teaspoonful soda, flavoring if desired, 
flour to make a soft dough. 

Soft Honey-cake. — 1 cup butter, 2 cups honey, 2 eggs, 
1 cup sour milk, 2 teaspoonfuls soda, 1 teaspoonful ginger, 
1 teaspoonful cinnamon, 4 cups flour. Chalon Fowls, 

Ginger Honey-cake. — 1 cup honey, J cup butter, 
or drippings, 1 tablespoonful boiled cider, in half a cup of 
hot water (or J cup sour milk will do instead) . Warm these 
ingredients together, and then add 1 tablespoonful ginger 

242 



HONEY A FOOD AND MEDICINE 

*nd 1 teaspoonful soda sifted in with flour enough to make 
a soft batter. Bake in a flat pan. Chalon Fowls. 

Fowls' Honey Fruit-cake. — J cup butter, | cup honey, 
J cup apple jelly or boiled cider, 2 eggs well beaten, 1 tea- 
spoonful soda, 1 teaspoonful each of cinnamon, cloves, and 
nutmeg, 1 teacupful each of raisins and dried currants. 
Warm the butter, honey, and apple jelly slightly, add the 
beaten eggs, then the soda dissolved in a Httle warm water; 
add spices and flour enough to make a stiff batter, then stir 
in the fruit and bake in a slow oven. Keep in a covered jar 
several weeks before using. 

Muth's Honey-cakes. — 1 gal. honey (dark honey is 
best), 15 eggs, 3 lbs. sugar (a httle more honey in its place may 
be better), Ij oz. baking-soda, 2 oz. ammonia, 2 lbs. almonds 
chopped up, 2 lbs. citron, 4 oz. cinnamon, 2 oz. cloves, 2 oz. 
mace, 18 lbs. flour. Let the honey come almost to a boil; 
then let it cool off, and add the other ingredients. Cut out 
and bake. The cakes are to be frosted afterward with sugar 
and white of eggs. 

Fowls' Honey Layer-cake. — f cup butter, 1 cup honey, 
3 eggs beaten, § cup milk. Cream the honey and butter 
together, then add the eggs and milk. Then add 2 cups 
flour containing IJ teaspoonfuls baking-powder previously 
stirred in. Then stir in flour to make a stiff batter. Bake 
in jelly-tins. When the cakes are cold, take finely flavored 
candied honey, and after creaming it spread between layera 

^43 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

Fowls* Honey-cookies. — 3 teaspoonfuls soda dissolved 
in 2 cups warm honey, 1 cup shortening containing salt, 2 
teaspoonfuls ginger, 1 cup hot water, flour sufficient to roll. 

Honey Nut-cakes. — 8 cups sugar, 2 cups honey, 4 cups 
milk or water, 1 lb. almonds, 1 lb. English walnuts, 3 cents* 
worth each of candied lemon and orange peel, 5 cents' worth 
citron (the last three cut fine), 2 large tablespoonfuls soda, 
2 teaspoonfuls cinnamon, 2 teaspoonfuls ground cloves. 
Put the milk, sugar, and honey on the stove, to boil 15 minutes; 
skim off the scum, and take from the stove. Put in the nuts, 
spices, and candied fruit. Stir in as much flour as can be 
done without making the dough too stiff. Set away to cool, 
then mix in the soda. Cover up and let stand over night, 
then work in flour enough to make a stiff dough. Bake 
when you get ready. It is well to let it stand a few days, as 
it will not stick so badly. Roll out a little thicker than a 
common cooky ; cut in any shape you like. 

This recipe originated in Germany, is old and tried, and the 
cake will keep a year or more. Mrs. E. Smith, 

Honey Drop-cakes. — 1 cup honey, § cup sugar, J cup 
butter or lard, J cup sour milk, 1 egg, J tablespoonful soda, 
4 cups sifted flour. 

Honey Shortcake. — 3 cups flour, 2 teaspoonfuls bak- 
ing-powder, 1 teaspoonful salt, J cup shortening, Ij cups 
sweet milk. Roll quickly, and bake in a hot oven. When 

244 



HONEY A FOOD AND MEDICINE 

done, split the cake and spread the lower half thinly with 
butter, and the upper half with J lb. of the best-flavored 
honey. (Candied honey is preferred. If too hard to spread 
well it should be slightly warmed or creamed with a knife.) 
Let it stand a few minutes, and the honey will melt gradually 
and the flavor will permeate all through the cake. To be 
eaten with milk. 

Honey Tea-cake. — 1 cup honey, J cup sour cream, 
2 eggs, § cup butter, 2 cups flour, scant J teaspoonful soda, 
1 tablespoonful cream of tartar. Bake thirty minutes in a 
moderate oven. Miss M. Candler. 

Honey X^^ingersnaps. — 1 pt. honey, f lb. butter, 2 tea- 
spoonfuls ginger. Boil together a few minutes, and when 
nearly cold put in flour until it is stiff. Roll out thin, and 
bake quickly. 

Honey Fruit-cake. — 1§ cups honey, f cup butter, § cup 
sweet milk, 2 eggs well beaten, 3 cups flour, 2 teaspoonfuls 
baking-powder, 2 cups raisins, 1 teaspoonful each of cloves 
and cinnamon. 

Honey Popcorn-balls. — Take 1 pt. extracted honey; 
put it into an iron frying-pan, and boil until very thick ; then 
stir in freshly popped corn, and when cold, mold into balls. 
These will specially delight the children. 

Honey-caramels. — 1 cup extracted honey of best flavor, 
1 cup granulated sugar, 3 tablespoonfuls sweet cream or milk. 

24>5 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

Boil to "soft crack," or until it hardens when dropped into 
cold water, but not too brittle — just so it will form into a 
soft ball when taken in the fingers. Pour into a greased dish, 
stirring in a teaspoonful extract of vanilla just before taking 
off. Let it be ^ or I inch deep in the dish; and as it cools 
cut in squares and wrap each square in paraffin paper, 
such as grocers wrap butter in. To make chocolate cara- 
mels, add to the foregoing 1 tablespoonful melted chocolate, 
just before taking off the stove, stirring it in well. For choco- 
late caramels it is not so important that the honey be of best 
quality. C. C. Miller. 

Honey Apple-butter. — 1 gal. good cooking apples, 
1 qt. honey, 1 qt. honey vinegar, 1 heaping teaspoonful 
ground cinnamon. Cook several hours, stirring often to 
prevent burning. If the vinegar is very strong, use part 
water. Mrs. R. C. Aikin. 

Honey and Tar Cough -cure. — Put 1 tablespoonful 
liquid tar into a shallow tin dish and place it in boiling water 
until the tar is hot. To this add a pint of extracted honey 
and stir well for half an hour, adding to it a level teaspoonful 
pulverized borax. Keep well corked in a bottle. Dose, 
teaspoonful every one, two, or three hours, according to 
severity of cough. 

Summer Honey-drink. — 1 spoonful fruit juice and 1 
spoonful honey in J glass water ; stir in as much soda as will 

246 



HONEY A FOOD AND MEDICINE 

Ke on a silver dime, and then stir in half as much tartario 
acid, and drink at once. 

Honey Cereal Coffee. — Fresh wheat bran, 5 lbs.; 
mix with 2 lbs. of rye flour 2 lbs. of alfalfa honey. Mix the 
honey with 3 pts. of boiling water. After the honey and 
water have come to a boil, pour into the bran mixture. Stir 
thoroughly, and knead to a very stiff dough. Put them 
through a domestic meat-grinder to separate them. Dry in 
a warm oven. Brown the same as coffee. For a coffee flavor, 
add 2 lbs. best Mocha and Java. Have it all ground and put 
in air-tight cans for future use. W. L. Porter. 

Honey-taffy. — Boil extracted honey until it hardens in 
cold water. Pull until white. Any quantity may be used. 
One pound requires about twenty minutes' steady boiling. 

Mary C. Porter. 

Dyspepsia Remedy. — Dr. McLean, San Francisco, 
California, recommends this for the cure of dyspepsia. Mix 
a drink of honey and water to suit the taste, then add a small 
quantity of myrrh (just a few drops), and drink every morning 
on rising. 

Honey-paste to put Labels on Tin. — Take two spoon- 
fuls of wheat flour and one of honey. Mix the flour and 
honey, and add boiling water to make \. the right thickness. 
This is fine for labels or wall paper where paper will not ? Jck 
with ordinary paste. W, L, Porter. 

247 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 



FOREIGN HONEY RECIPES 

Alsatian Gingerbread. — 1 lb. honey, 1 lb. flour, ginger 
to suit, 2j drams bicarbonate soda. The honey is first 
brought to a boil, preferably in a double boiler. It is then 
removed from the fire, and the flour well stirred into it, and 
then the soda (or baking-powder) ; bake. If sweet ginger- 
bread is wanted, add the white of an egg, well whipped, and 
more honey. The above will keep well for a year if kept in 
a cellar. 

Swiss Cookies. — Prepare some dough as for the ginger- 
bread, and mix with it J lb. crushed almonds, orange and 
lemon juice, and cinnamon; and, if desired, cloves to suit the 
taste. 

Honey Fruit-cakes. — 4 eggs, 5 teacups flour, 2 teacups 
honey, 1 teacup butter, 1 teacup sweet milk, 3 teaspoonfuls 
baking-powder, 1 lb. raisins, 1 lb. currants, 1 teaspoonful 
cloves, 1 teaspoonful cinnamon, 1 teaspoonful nutmeg. Then 
bake in slow oven. The above will keep moist for months. 

Honey Brown Bread. — 1 cup corn meal, 1 cup rye 
meal, 1 cup sour milk, J (or less) cup honey, 1 teaspoonful 
salt, 1 teaspoonful soda. Steam 4 hours, then dry in the oven 
15 minutes. This bread should be kept in an air-tight box, 
where it will keep fresh for a long time. 

248 



HONEY A FOOD AND MEDICINE 

French Honey-muffins. — 1§ pts. flour, 1 cup honey. 
J teaspoonful salt, two teaspoonfuls baking-powder, 2 table- 
spoonfuls butter, 3 eggs, and a little over half a pint of milk 
or thin cream. Sift together the flour, salt, and powder; rub 
in the butter cold; add beaten eggs, milk, and honey. Mix 
smoothly in batter as for pound cake ; about half fill sponge- 
cake tins, cold and fully greased, and bake bread in good 
steady oven for eight minutes. 

Remedy for Constipation. — Dr. Vogel, of the Uni- 
versity of Dorpat, one of the greatest authorities on the sub- 
ject of children's diseases, recommends giving the juice of 
well-stewed prunes, sweetened with honey, to very small 
children, instead of castor oil or other remedies. This is also 
a remedy which can be used by adults with good results. 
Try it. 

Honey-taffy. — Boil honey until it hardens when dropped 
into cold water. Pull until it becomes white. Any quantity 
may be used. A pound requires 20 minutes' boihng and 
stirring. Great care must be exercised not to burn the 
honey. It makes very fine taffy. 

Honey-drops. — Blend J cup honey, 1 teaspoonful butter, 
1 egg well beaten, f cup flour, sifted with half a teaspoonful 
of baking-powder and a pinch of salt. Drop by teaspoonfuls 
on a tin, and bake in a quick oven. These proportions will 
make about 20 cakes. 

249 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

Pickled Grapes in Honey. — 7 lbs. good grapes (wine 
grapes if possible). The stalks must be left, and carefully 
packed in a jar without bruising any of them. Make a syrup 
of 4 lbs. of honey, a pint of good vinegar with cloves, etc., 
to suit the taste. Then boil the syrup, carefully skimming 
it, for 20 minutes. While boiling hot, pour the syrup over 
the grapes and seal up. This will keep perfectly for years, 
as the honey is a preservative. 

Honey Cold Cream. — 1 cup of honey; f of a cup of 
beeswax; 1 cup of cottolene. Melt all, take off the fire, 
and stir till it is cool; rose or violet perfume may be added. 
It should be well protected from the air. The blending 
should be well done. This is fine for chapped or rough 
hands, which should be slightly wetted before applying. 

Honey-cakes (Pain d' Spice or Lebkuchen). — The fol- 
lowing recipe will be much appreciated by cake-makers. 
The cakes are excellent, and will keep indefinitely. If they 
get dry, simply put them for a few days into a bread-tin. 
Use 3 lbs. of honey, 3 lbs. of flour, 1 oz. powdered ammonia, 
a small teacupful of ground cinnamon, half-teaspoonful of 
ground cloves, 6 oz. orange peel (or citron) cut very fine ; 4 oz. 
sweet almonds cut very small. (The ammonia evaporates in 
baking.) Directions. — Pour the honey in a granite ware or 
copper saucepan, and set on the stove. When it boils, draw 
it aside and remove the scum (as honey boils and burns very 
quickly, great care must be used). Then pour the honey into 
the vessel in which the paste is to be made; leave it to cool; 

250 



HONEY A FOOD AND MEDICINE 

then add flour and other ingredients, except the ammonia 
which latter must not be added till the flour and honey have 
been mixed up and the paste has become cold. In preparing 
for use, place the ammonia in a cup ; pour on a few drops of 
cold water, and stir it well, so as to form a thick paste, then 
mix it up with the rest. Then take a piece of the paste, roll it 
out into a cake not over J inch thick, and cut up into conven- 
ient sizes. Put these on a flat tin and bake in a hot oven 
12 to 15 minutes. The above is made by the monks of 
Buckfast Abbey, England. 

Honey Vinegar. — The best vinegar produced any- 
where is made from honey. Any one who understands how 
to make cider vinegar can easily make honey vinegar, only 
substituting water sweetened with honey for the apple juice. 

Bar-le-Duc Preserves. — These preserves are believed 
to be the finest of their kind, and have hitherto been im- 
ported at extravagant prices. Other fruits besides currants 
may be treated in this way, as honey is of itself a preservative. 
These preserves do not require to be kept absolutely air- 
tight. 

Take selected red or white currants of large size, one by 
one ; carefully make an incision in the skin J of an inch deep 
with tiny embroidery scissors. Through this slit remove 
the seeds with the aid of a sharp needle; remove the seeds 
separately, preserving the shape of the fruit. Take the 
weight of the currants in honey, and when this has been 

251 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

heated add the currants. Let it simmer a minute or two, 
and then seal as for jelly. The currants retain their shape, 
are of a beautiful color, and melt in the mouth. Care should 
be exercised not to scorch the honey, then you will have fine 
preserves. 

Honey-paste for Chapped Hands. — An excellent paste 
for chapped hands is made as follows : The white of one egg, 
one teaspoon of glycerine, one ounce of honey, and sufficient 
barley flour to compose a paste. It may not be generally 
known that honey is a prime ingredient of cosmetics; for 
its action on the skin is always agreeable. 

Honey for Cleaning the Hands. — Honey is an excel- 
lent cleanser of the skin, though few are aware of the fact. 
Try this : Rub a Httle honey on the dry skin ; moisten a little, 
and rub again ; use more water, and rub. Wash thoroughly, 
when it will be found the hands are as clean as the most 
powerful soap can make them. 

Honey Tooth-paste. — 8 oz. precipitated chalk, 4 oz. 
powdered castile soap, 4 oz. orris-root powder, 40 drops oil 
of sassafras, 80 drops oil of bay, and honey to make a paste. 

French Honey-candies. — In an enamelled-ware sauce- 
pan melt one part of gelatine in one part of water, stirring well. 
When arrived at the state of a soft paste, add 4 parts of honey 
previously warmed, stirring briskly. Take from the fire ; add 
the desired flavor and color, mixing carefully, and pour into a 
shallow hghtly greased dish. Let it dry for a few days. 

252 



HONEY A FOOD AND MEDICINE 

Honey as a Softener of the Hands. — Rub together 
1 lb. of honey and the yolks of 8 eggs; gradually add 1 lb. oil 
of sweet almond during constant stirring ; work in ^ lb. bitter 
almonds, and perfume with 2 drams each of attar of bergamot 
and attar of cloves. Of course, the quantities may be reduced 
if necessary. 

Honey for Freckles. — Half a pound of honey, 2 oz. 
glycerine, 2 oz. alcohol, 6 drams citric acid, 15 drops amber- 
gris. Apply night and morning. 

Honey-chocolate. — Chocolate sweetened with honey 
rather than with sugar is excellent. This is how it is made : 
Melt 1 lb. of gelatine in a pint of water; add 10 lb. of 
honey, thoroughly warming the same, and then add 4 lbs. of 
cocoa. Flavor with vanilla when taken off the fire, and then 
pour into greased dishes or molds. 

Honey Brown Bread. — One cup corn meal, 1 cup rye 
meal, 1 cup sour milk, J cup or less of honey, a teaspoonful 
of salt and a teaspoonful of soda. Steam four hours, and 
then dry in the oven fifteen minutes. It may be added that 
most of the molasses now sold is not fit to eat, and in any 
case honey is much better. 

It can be seen from the foregoing recipes 
that honey has a multitude of uses in the home, 
and its free use as a spread for bread is far 
preferable for children to much of the cheap 
candies that they buy. 

253 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

We cannot close this chapter better than by 
giving the advice of the Scriptures, found in 
Proverbs xxiv: 13: "Eat honey because it is 
good." Not only as a food has honey a great 
value, but in medicine it has a large place, 
especially in the treatment of colds and 
diseases of the lungs, and forms a valuable 
ingredient in many of the excellent cough 
remedies that are made and sold. 

The following uses of honey as a medicine are 
given by permission of the A. I. Root Company : 

Coughs, Colds, Whooping Cough, etc. — Fill a bell- 
metal kettle with horehound leaves and soft water, letting it 
boil until the liquor becomes strong — then strain through a 
muslin cloth, adding as much honey as desired — then cook 
it in the same kettle until the water evaporates, when the 
candy may be poured into shallow vessels and remain until 
needed, or pulled like molasses candy until white. 

Dr. Kneipp's Honey-salve. — This is recommended as 
an excellent dressing for sores and boils. Take equal parts 
of honey and flour, add a Httle water and stir it thoroughly. 
Don't make too thin. 

Honey and Cream for Freckles. — Have you tried a 
mixture of honey and cream — half and half — for freckles ? 

254 



HONEY A FOOD AND MEDICINE 

Well, it*s a good thing. If on the hands, wear gloves on going 
to bed. 

Honey Croup Remedy. — This is the best known to the 
medical profession, and is an infalHble remedy in all cases 
of mucous and spasmodic croup: Raw linseed oil, 2 oz.; 
tincture of blood root, 2 drams; tincture of lobelia, 2 
drams; tincture of aconite, J dram; honey, four oz. 
Mix. Dose, J to 1 teaspoonful every 15 to 20 minutes, ac- 
cording to the urgency of the case. It is also excellent in all 
throat and lung troubles originating from a cold. This is 
an excellent remedy in lung trouble : Make a strong decoction 
of horehound herb and sweeten with honey. Take a table- 
spoonful four or five times a day. 

Honey for Dyspepsia. — A young man who was troubled 
with dyspepsia was advised to try honey and graham gems 
for breakfast. He did so, and commenced to gain, and now 
enjoys as good health as the average man; and he does not 
take medicine. Honey is the only food taken into the 
stomach that leaves no residue; it requires no action of 
the stomach whatever to digest it, as it is merely absorbed 
and taken up into the system by the action of the blood. 
Honey is the natural foe to dyspepsia and indigestion, as well 
as a food for the human system. 

Honey as a Laxative. — In olden time the good effects 
of honey as a remedial agent were well known, but of late 
little use is made thereof. A great mistake surely. Notably 

255 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

is honey valuable in constipation. Not as an immediate 
cure, like some medicines which momentarily give relief, 
only to leave the case worse than ever afterward, but by its 
persistent daily use, bringing about a healthy condition of 
the bowels, enabling them properly to perform their functions. 
Many suffer daily from an irritable condition, behaving 
themselves nervous, not realizing that constipation is at the 
root of the matter, and that a faithful daily use of honey 
would restore cheerfulness of mind and health to the body. 

Honey for Old People's Coughs. — Old people's 
coughs are as distinct as the coughs of children, and require 
remedies especially adapted to them. They are known by the 
constant tickUng in the pit of the throat — just where the 
Adam's apple projects — and are caused by phlegm that accu- 
mulates there, which, owing to their weakened condition, 
they are unable to expectorate. 

Take a fair-sized onion — a good, strong one — and let it 
simmer in a quart of honey for several hours, after which strain 
and take a teaspoonful frequently. It eases the cough won- 
derfully, though it may not cure. 

Honey for Stomach Cough. — All mothers know that 
a stomach cough is caused by an irritation of that organ, 
frequently attended with indigestion. The child often 
vomits after coughing. 

Dig down to the roots of a wild cherry tree, and peel off a 
handful of the bark, put it into a pint of water, and boil 
down to a teacupful. Put this tea into a quart of honey, and 

256 



HONEY A FOOD AND MEDICINE 

give a teaspoonful every hour or two. It is pleasant, and if 
the child should also have worms, which often happens, they 
are pretty apt to be disposed of, as they have no love for the 
wild-cherry flavor. 

Honey and Tar Cough Candy. — Put a double handful 
of green horehound into two quarts of water, boil down to 
one quart ; strain, and add to this tea two cupfuls of extracted 
honey and a tablespoonful each of lard and tar. Boil down 
to a candy, but not enough to make it brittle. Begin to eat 
this, increase from a piece the size of a pea to as much as can 
be relished. It is an excellent cough candy, and always 
gives relief in a short time. 

Honey and Tar Cough Cure. — Put one tablespoonful 
liquid tar into a shallow tin dish, and place it in boihng water 
until the tar is hot. To this add a pint of extracted honey, 
and stir well for half an hour, adding to it a level teaspoonful 
pulverized borax. Keep well corked in a bottle. Dose, one 
teaspoonful every one, two, or three hours, according to 
severity of cough. 



«57 



CHAPTER XVIII 

ROBBER BEES HOW TO PREVENT ROBBING 

npHE energy that bees will display in rob- 
-^ bing each other, also the alacrity with 
which they will pounce upon any honey or other 
sweets if left within their reach, is not after 
all an unmixed evil, as it shows their indus- 
try; and a few preventive measures will result 
in keeping it within bounds and prevent any 
serious consequences. 

This tendency to rob prevails in all races 
of bees, especially if no honey is coming in 
from the fields, and is more pronounced in 
some races than in others. 

The Italian bees especially are given to 
robbing, but be it said to their credit that 
they are more easily discouraged from it 
when attempts are made to break it up. 

The main danger when extensive rob- 
bing is under way, is that the robbers 

258 



ROBBER BEES 

after cleaning up any honey that may have 
been left carelessly about, will proceed to 
pounce upon one weak colony after another, 
and will often clean them out completely, — 
to say nothing of the viciousness of their 
tempers when robbing. 

When a single bee has succeeded in stealing 
a load of honey from some weak hive, it seems 
to have some means of communicating that 
fact to the other members of its colony, for 
when it rushes out for another load it is in- 
variably accompanied by some of its comrades, 
until literally thousands of bees are engaged 
in robbing. 

With the bees no question of ethics is in- 
volved in robbing, as they seem to regard as 
legitimate prey any and all honey that is in 
their reach, and they will keep on stealing 
until means are taken by their keepers to stop 
it. 

When honey is coming in from the fields 
there is little danger of the bees robbing, and 
extracting can be carried on in the open field 

259 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

without any precaution whatever; but as 
soon as the flow ceases the little rascals are 
ready to gobble anything at hand, urged 
thereto no doubt by the fact that they are in a 
state of enforced idleness and want to lay up 
as much honey for wintering as possible. 

Until a case of robbing is well under way, 
it will often be diflScult for the novice to detect 
it, as the little thieves will act in many ways 
similar to young bees taking a play spell 
flying before their hives ; but when the thing is 
in full operation, it is easy to recognize it at 
once, as the hive being robbed will have a 
large number of bees busily flying before it 
like a new swarm coming out, and the terrific 
fight going on on its alighting-board with the 
dead bees that have been killed in the fight- 
ing — often as many as a quart — will tell 
its own tale even to the novice. 

Another method of detecting robbing is to 
watch the actionjs of the bees coming out of 
the hive suspected of being robbed; as the 
robber comes out it does not act in the 

260 



ROBBER BEES 

Jeisurely manner of a bee getting ready to fly 
to the fields, but rushes out in a great hurry, 
and the distention of its abdomen will indi- 
cate that it is heavily loaded, whereas in the 
case of a bee coming out for its flight to the 
field, the abdomen is empty and slim in ap- 
pearance. 

It is a good plan as soon as the flow of honey 
is over, and the weather not too warm, to con- 
tract the entrances of all hives; this is not so 
necessary in the case of strong colonies, but 
where they are weak it is absolutely essential 
and should not be neglected. Be careful 
about opening hives out of season, and keep 
their lids off only so long as is necessary ; above 
all, do not leave any honey or feed syrup about, 
for this will be only an invitation to robbing. 

Where queen-rearing is carried on, there is 
great danger of robbing, as the little mating 
nuclei are not strong enough to repel the 
invaders unless the entrances are small, and 
what is true of nuclei is also true of all weak 
colonies. 

261 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

Frequent cases of robbing are started in 
the most innocent way imaginable by people's 
making preserves in the neighborhood without 
proper screens for the windows of the room 
in which the preserving is done; I know of 
one occasion when the bees drove a woman 
from the room and swarmed upon the sugar 
and syrup until it was all cleaned up, and it 
was not until night that the woman could 
get back. On the following morning thou- 
sands of the little thieves were on hand to 
complete the work and were only prevented 
from continued robbing because every window 
had been screened with mosquito netting 
during the night. As it was, many bees 
lingered about the windows all day, wondering 
why their rich repast had been interfered with. 

I knew of another case where a good house- 
wife was candying some peaches; the candied 
peaches were placed on a large tray on a shed 
to harden in the sun, and in a few hours some 
bees from a neighboring apiary had discovered 
them. Before night they had licked all the 

262 



ROBBER BEES 

sugar from the peaches, leaving them as clean 
as they were before being coated with sugar 
syrup. The bees could hardly be blamed; if 
anywhere, the blame rested upon the house- 
wife for not protecting the fruit with a screen, 
for common sense would have told her that 
there must be some bees in the vicinity that 
would take advantage of their opportunity. 

If the robbing is confined to one or two 
colonies, it will be a good thing to carry the 
colonies being robbed into the cellar in the 
dark, leaving them there until the following 
afternoon, when they can be set out again, 
and, with their entrances contracted, the dam- 
age can be stopped. 

If the robbing is general in the apiary, or 
even if a single colony is being robbed, it can 
often be stopped by throwing an armful of 
brush at the entrance of the hive being robbed, 
for the robbers are a bit wary about working 
their way through the tangled mass, as they 
always want a rapid way of retreat. In this 
way the colony being robbed will be able to 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

get over their demoralization, and can mar- 
shal and organize their scattered forces for a 
good resistance; and if toward evening the 
entrance to the hive is contracted it will have 
spent its course as far as that hive individually 
is concerned. Sprinkling the brush with cold 
water has a good effect upon the robbers, and 
they will often give up at once rather than 
run the risk of getting wet and being placed 
hors de combat. Frequently I have broken 
up a case of robbing by squirting kerosene oil 
on the front and on the alighting-board of 
the hive being robbed, and this has proved 
effective, because the robbers at once become 
suspicious of the strange odor. It must be 
remembered that a bee that is robbing is on 
the lookout continually for some trap to catch 
him in his piratical career, and their actions 
indicate the fear of being killed. 

Sometimes a colony will be so completely 
cleaned out of its stores that it will be a wise 
thing to let the robbers finish their work at 
that hive rather than give their attention to 

S64 



ROBBER BEES 

others. At nightfall the cleaned-out hive can 
be examined, and if the queen is uninjured, 
and a fair amount of bees present, its entrance 
can be contracted so that only a bee or two can 
pas;^ out at a time, and in a couple of days it 
can be built up with bees and sealed brood 
from strong colonies and no serious damage 
will have resulted. 

A plain pane of glass laid in a slanting posi- 
tion in front of a hive that is being robbed 
will so confuse the robbers that they will give 
up in despair, but the kerosene, squirted on 
the front of the hive or on some brush or dried 
grass thrown in front of the hive entrance, 
is the best thing of which I know, and again 
and again I have nipped in the bud what 
promised to develop into a first-class case of 
embezzlement. Turpentine, or a weak solu- 
tion of carbolic acid water, will work equally 
as well, and, when the robbed colony have a 
chance to rest over night, and recover from 
their panic, it is astonishing what a fight they 
will be prepared to put up the following day. 

265 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

When bees are in full swing of robbing they 
are liable not only to pounce upon a weak 
hive, but in all likelihood will sting everything 
and everybody in sight, including stock, and 
for this, if for no other reason, it is important 
to prevent robbing entirely, and if it is under 
way to break it up at once. If we were sure 
that the robbers were entirely our own bees, 
it might not be a great loss in honey, as the 
honey that was robbed will be transferred to 
other hives in the yard, but in all probability 
the robbers are from any and all hives within a 
radius of three miles, and no one cares to enrich 
the yards of a neighbor at one's own expense. 

It is sometimes the course of wisdom to 
fight fire with fire, and to divert the robbers 
from the hive that is being robbed by exposing 
some combs of honey a little distance from 
the apiary, and the robbers will leave the 
hive they are robbing and devote their time 
to the exposed combs, as there are no bees to 
fight them. While they are robbing these 
combs, the hives in the yard can be attended 



ROBBER BEES 

to, and at night the combs can be carried into 
the house. In the morning it is amusing to 
see the clouds of bees hovering over the spot 
where the combs were given them the day 
before and wondering what on earth has 
become of their "Klondike." 

If it were possible to do all our work among 
the bees during a honey flow, we should have 
no trouble from robbing, but unfortunately 
we have to do much work at other times, 
especially if we are rearing queens; but this 
difficulty can be overcome by using a small 
tent, made for the purpose of laths and mos- 
quito netting, which can be set over the hive 
to be worked, and, as it is large enough to 
permit the operator to do his work, all opera- 
tions can be carried on in safety. These 
tents are inexpensive and exceedingly light, 
and are a positive necessity in a well-regulated 
apiary of even moderate size, and the excellent 
results they accomplish, added to the peace of 
mind of the beekeeper, more than warrant 
the expenditure for them. 

267 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

It must not be supposed from the foregoing 
that robbing is a terrible bugbear and a fatal 
thing to bee-keeping, for I can safely say that 
by the exercise of a little caution and the adop- 
tion of the preventive measures referred to I 
have not for ten years had a serious case of 
robbing in any of my yards, and a pound of 
prevention is worth a load of cure. Be care- 
ful when working out of the honey flow, and, 
when feeding the bees, not to let any of the 
honey or feed lie about, and in all probability 
you will never have a case of robbing that will 
amount to anything. 



268 



CHAPTER XIX 



FEEDING 



"TTTHEN we speak of feeding bees we would 
^ ^ not be understood as advocating the 
feeding of bees with sugar syrup in order to have 
it stored in the combs and sold as honey, as 
such a practice is dishonest, and certain to 
bring the honey-producer into conflict with 
the pure food laws; but rather that feeding 
which from time to time is necessary, such as 
feeding the bees to supply them with suflScient 
stores to carry them over the winter, or to 
stimulate brood-rearing in the early spring, or 
when given to a hive to encourage them to rear 
queens outside of the season of the natural 
honey flow; and under these conditions feed- 
ing is both legitimate and important. 

Sometimes in the early spring, a colony or 
two will be found to have come out of winter 
quarters in a much-depleted condition, and 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

in order to encourage it to rear a lot of brood, 
which it generally will not do until the natural 
flow comes on, we feed it about a half pint of 
syrup each day with remarkable results. 

Some of the most successful beekeepers 
even advocate feeding all colonies in the spring 
for brood-rearing, but this is not at all neces- 
sary — the better plan is to see that each colony 
goes into winter quarters with abundant stores, 
more or less of which will be present in the 
hive with the coming of spring, as such stores 
are the best for early brood-rearing without 
resorting to stimulative methods. 

Whether the feeding is to be done for early 
brood-rearing, or for raising queens, or even 
given in large quantities in the fall for winter 
stores, the syrup should be the same, and is 
made by thoroughly mixing equal parts of pure 
granulated sugar and boiling water. If a large 
quantity is to be made, it can be mixed up in 
the extractor, first putting the boiling water in, 
and pouring the sugar in while the baskets are 
being whirled about. 

270 



FEEDING 

It is possible to make the stimulating syrup 
with a smaller proportion of sugar, but this 
is no advantage, as the surplus water has to 
be thrown off by evaporation, and by using 
equal parts of sugar and water, we save the 
bees that much extra work. Moreover, ex- 
periments have proved to me that they seem 
to prefer the thicker syrup at all times. In 
every case the syrup should be given them 
while it is hot, as they take it up more quickly. 
Under no conditions should the mixture be 
boiled on a stove, as there is danger of scorch- 
ing it, and this will work serious damage to the 
bees in promoting dysentery and other intes- 
tinal diseases, particularly where such syrup 
is fed for winter stores. 

There is no class of men given to invention as 
much as are beekeepers. In regard to feeders, 
especially, the number that has appeared from 
time to time is enormous, and it is the pur- 
pose of this chapter to call attention only to a 
few that have stood the test of time. 

A good feeder for stimulative feeding in 
271 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

the spring is the Simplicity feeder. This is 
nothing more than a long block of wood, 
preferably basswood, that has been grooved 
out to hold the feed; it is placed in an empty 
super on the quilt or cloth that covers the 
frames, and is of easy access to the bees pro- 
viding one corner of the cushion or cloth is 
turned up for the purpose. The principal 
things in favor of this feeder are that it is 
cheap and puts the feed where the bees are 
most likely to go for it — overhead ; but it 
has the objection that it necessitates the lift- 
ing of the cover from the tops of the frames, 
with more or less loss of warmth from the 
brood nest, and this at the time of the year 
that it is most needed. It might be said, 
however, that a large number of beekeepers 
have used and continue to use it. 

Another good feeder is the Alexander 
feeder. This is built somewhat on the plan 
of the Simplicity, but has the decided advan- 
tage of being placed directly under the rear 
end of the hive with a block covering the end 

272 



FEEDING 

that projects beyond the hive, which is lifted 
for filling, and, when put back, the little block 
shuts off all entrance for robber bees. An- 
other thing in favor of the Alexander feeder 
is that it does not require the opening of the 
hive for filling, or the lifting up of the cushion 
or cloth for the bees to get at the syrup, and 
does away with loss of heat from the brood 
nest. 

The most serious objections to the Alex- 
ander feeder are, first, that to use it requires 
that the hive body shall be pushed back from 
its entrance, and in stormy weather rain is 
sure to run down the sides of the hive and 
dilute the syrup, causing the feeder to over- 
flow on the ground and start up a first-class 
case of robbing at the most unfavorable season 
of the year. 

Still another feeder is the Boardman, which 
is nothing more than an ordinary quart jar, 
filled with syrup, to which has been fitted a 
perforated metal cap, fitting down securely 
in a hollowed block of wood. This is shoved 
T 273 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

in at one side of the hive entrance, and gives 
the bees of the hive access to the feed, 
at the same time excluding bees from other 
colonies that show an inclination to rob. 
One thing in favor of this feeder is that, the 
jar being of glass and being in position out- 
side of the hive, the beekeeper can tell at a 
glance just how rapidly the colony is taking 
the feed, and will thus know how much to give 
daily to each individual colony. 

Experience has proved again and again 
that an ideal feeder is one which places the 
feed right over the cluster where it is naturally 
found by a colony, and which does not permit 
the escape of heat. There is no feeder on the 
market that meets this requirement except 
the Lyon feeder, invented by the author. 
The following directions show how it should 
be made. 

Take two boards, ^ inch thick, and cut 
them so that the two will just cover the brood 
body of the hive. To secure the two boards, 
tack some cleats, |- inch thick and as long as 

274 



FEEDING 

required, to the top ends of the boards and 
along its top sides, so that when all is nailed 
you have a wooden cover that fits flush with 
the outside sides of the hive. 

Fill with syrup a one-quart or a two-quart 
Hazel Atlas, or ordinary preserving- jar, and 
cover it with a perforated metal cap with 
rubber ring, procured from the bee supply 
house, and it is ready to be placed in the 
boarded cover. Place the metal cap in the 
centre of the board top, and mark around it 
with a lead pencil; then with a compass 
saw, saw a round piece of wood out of the 
wooden cover. Nail a square piece of wood, 
not over |- inch thick, to the round piece 
that was cut out, having the square block 
projecting an inch beyond the round block 
to prevent its dropping through the hole 
upon the frames when the jar is not being used. 

When you are ready to feed, remove the lid 
from the hive and place the feeding-board 
over the brood nest. In the hole place the 
inverted feeding- jar with metal cap screwed 

275 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

tightly on, and on top of the feeding-board 
place an empty hive body, and on top of this 
place the lid of the hive. 

When the jar needs refilling, it can be lifted 
out of its hole and taken to the house, the 
round wooden piece of wood being put back 
in the hole, to prevent the bees from coming 
up while the jar is being refilled, and when 
filled the jar can be set in place again. A 
little time can be saved by filling another jar 
and placing it immediately in the hole at the 
time the empty one is taken out, and when the 
feeding is all over, whether for stimulating 
brood or for giving winter stores, the wooden 
block can be placed in the hole, and the feeder 
board left where it is as a permanent cover 
to the brood frames, the extra body removed, 
and the lid of the hive placed upon the feeder 
board. 

These feeder boards have the advantage of 
being used as a permanent cover underneath 
the hive lid the year round, and whenever the 
colony needs feeding it can be changed to a 

276 



FEEDING 

feeding-board in a second by simply removing 
the round block from its hole, and inserting the 
jar in its place. This does away with many 
extra fixtures, and permits feeding in small or 
large amounts without escape of heat from the 
colony, or opening of the brood nest either 
above or below. 

I prefer a half-gallon Hazel Atlas jar, as a 
little feed can be given in them for early brood- 
rearing, and when it comes to heavy feeding 
for winter, a large quantity can be given each 
time with the use of but one jar. I have used 
these feeders for years. They never fail to 
serve the purpose. They are better than 
any feeders that I have seen, and are readily 
made out of old boards, boxes, or other 
material at hand. 

The Doolittle Division board feeder is 
made the size of a brood frame and is placed 
in the centre or at one side of the brood nest, 
but as the use of this feeder necessitates the 
opening of the hive every time it is filled, and 
when filled many bees are likely to be drowned, 

277 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

I, personally, have never found it so satisfac- 
tory as some others. 

Whatever feeder is used, the colony fed for 
early brood-rearing should be given toward 
evening about half a pint of hot syrup, and 
if the amount given is more than the bees 
will take up during the night, the quantity 
should be accordingly reduced. The feeding 
should be discontinued as soon as a regular 
flow begins to come in from natural sources, 
and the feeders stored away, though in the 
case of the Lyon feeder only the glass jars 
are taken away, as the feeding-board remains 
as a cover for the frames beneath the hive lid. 

In feeding for winter stores the standard 
feeder for years was the Miller feeder, a large 
water-tight box with two compartments so 
arranged that the bees have access to the feed 
through a wire screen and are thus in no 
serious danger of being drowned. This 
feeder will hold as much as twenty-five pounds 
of syrup, and is placed in an empty comb 
honey super on top of the brood frames. 

278 



FEEDING 

Honesty compels me to say the Lyon 
feeder is equally as effective, though it may 
require the refilling of the half-gallon jars 
a couple of times, to give the required 
amount for winter stores; and, unlike others, 
there is no pouring and splashing of feed 
outdoors, and no bees can possibly crowd up 
around the feeder and get drowned in the 
syrup as hundreds of bees often do in other 
feeders in spite of careful packing of cloths 
around them. 

It is generally conceded that September 
is the best time to feed for winter stores, as 
the bees will take the feed much quicker than 
later on; but if there is a prolonged flow 
from the late fall bloom, we often sacrifice a 
lot of syrup in feeding, as many a light colony 
will secure from late flowers, even after Sep- 
tember, sufficient honey for successful win- 
tering. Bees will seldom take down feed in 
bitter cold weather when other feeders are 
used, and in this respect the Lyon feeder excels 
them all. 

279 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

Even in freezing weather it is possible to 
place a Lyon feeder in place and fill the super 
brood body around it with planer shavings. 
The feed will keep warm a surprisingly long 
time, and even through the winter can, from 
time to time, be replenished, as the packing 
will keep it from getting too cold. Being 
right over the brood nest, the bees can get it 
without leaving the cluster, and will go through 
the winter depending on it entirely, whereas 
with other feeders they will starve with chilled 
feed near them. 

Every colony to be wintered in the cellar 
should have at least fifteen pounds of stores, 
and if honey to this amount is not present, it 
should be supplemented to that quantity by 
syrup. 

Where bees are to be wintered outdoors 
there should be about twenty-five pounds of 
stores present. One can, by lifting the back 
end of the hive tell by the weight of it, if it 
is well supplied with winter stores; and even 
though a colony is short, there will be more or 

280 



FEEDING 

less honey present, and only a little additional 
syrup will be necessary. 

Feeding is only necessary where we have 
used the extractor too freely or where the 
colony has not gathered enough, and there are 
many seasons when the bees do so well that 
feeding will not be required. Be careful in 
feeding not to splash any feed about, or robbers 
may defeat the very end you have in view in 
feeding; so, for this reason, it is best to defer 
feeding until late in the day, and to contract 
the entrances of the hives being fed. I 
would not advocate the open outdoor method 
as tried by some, which consists in pouring 
a large quantity of feed in an open trough, 
as it is open to the objections that robbing is 
likely to be encouraged; hives that do not need 
feeding will get a goodly share of it; you may 
be feeding bees from hives not your own; and, 
to say the least, it is an expensive and uncer- 
tain method. 

Better give to each colony individual treat- 
ment, and then you will have the satisfac- 

281 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

tion of knowing that it is getting just the 
amount it requires, and there will be no 
danger of feeding all the bees in the neigh- 
borhood. 



282 



CHAPTER XX 

HOW TO WINTER BEES SUCCESSFULLY 

/^ ENERALLY speaking, there are two 
^^ ways in which bees are wintered, out- 
doors, and in cellars or special repositories, 
and the methods of treating the colonies vary 
according to the plan followed. 

For many years there have been discussions 
among beekeepers as to which plan is the 
better, and there is a great deal to be said in 
favor of both, but it is conceded by eminent 
authorities that the outdoor plan is preferable 
if the conditions of successful outdoor winter- 
ing are followed, and the bees provided with 
the proper packing and shelter. Personally 
I believe that outdoor wintering is best even in 
cold climates; but outdoor wintering in such 
sections demands great care in the matter of 
extra packing, in order to bring the bees 

283 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

through their long winter's sleep in good con- 
dition, with the coming of spring. 

In favor of indoor wintering in cellars and 
special repositories, it is said that it requires 
less stores to winter bees indoors, which is a 
distinct saving in honey and offsets the extra 
work of moving them in and out, and the bee- 
keeper has no worry from the possibility of 
their freezing if left outdoors, if the weather 
goes down below zero and remains there for 
weeks at a time. I shall show, however, that 
if properly packed for extreme coldness the 
fear of loss from freezing is groundless. Of 
course it costs a great deal more for winter 
cases for outdoor wintering, but the first cost 
is the principal one, and the added benefits 
derived more than offset the matter of expense, 
and the added strength in spring of colonies 
wintered outdoors as compared with those 
wintered indoors means a larger surplus from 
the early flow. 

Bees wintered indoors cannot take advan- 
tage of occasional warm days during winter 

284 



HOW TO WINTER BEES 

for cleansing flights, and if the winter is pro- 
longed, are subject to dysentery, whereas the 
outdoor bees have had several opportunities 
in which to relieve themselves, and seldom 
suffer from it. Again, bees wintered indoors 
require constant care in the matter of receiv- 
ing proper ventilation and regulation in the 
matter of temperature, and when set outdoors 
in the spring suffer from spring dwindling, in 
case a cold spell should come on after they are 
set out. They are even destroyed, while bees 
that were wintered outdoors do not feel the 
change, as they are in their winter packing 
and are used to the cold. 

To offset spring dwindling, many a bee- 
keeper places some extra protection around 
his bees when he sets them out in spring, and 
while this is a help, the bees nevertheless suffer 
from the contrast when placed outdoors, and 
spring dwindling is the rule rather than the 
exception. 

If the truth were known, the real reason why 
so many beekeepers keep a large number of 

285 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

colonies wintered indoors is because they hesi- 
tate about going to the extra expense and 
trouble of providing winter cases for each 
hive, and having to pack them. The trouble 
of packing is no greater than that of having to 
move the bees in and out each year. 

As outdoor wintering is the simpler and 
easier method, especially for the beginner, 
we will describe it first. 

Whether bees are to be wintered outdoors 
or in the cellar, every colony should be gone 
over carefully in September and care exercised 
to see that each colony is strong in bees and 
stores. If there are a number of weak colo- 
nies, it is best to unite several of them 
and make strong ones, as these weak colonies 
are almost sure to perish, and it is a waste of 
time to try to winter them separately. Sup- 
posing that every colony is in good condition, 
we will in following the outdoor plan leave 
every colony on its summer stand, and as cold 
weather becomes settled, about the middle of 
November, we will now get ready to pack them. 



HOW TO WINTER BEES 

Some beekeepers use nothing but chafi 
hives, and where these hives are used, it is a 
very simple matter to get them ready. All 
that we have to do is to put the chaff tray 
filled with planer shavings on the hive, over 
the board that covers the frames, and when it 
is in place slip the large telescoping cover over 
all and the hive is prepared. In sections of 
the country where the winters are moderately 
mild with an occasional zero day, these hives 
fulfil every requirement, but in the extreme 
north, where zero weather prevails for weeks 
at a time, a thicker packing than that of the 
ordinary chaff hive will be necessary. The 
extra cost of the chaff hives has stood in the 
way of their general adoption by the majority 
of beekeepers who winter out of doors, and 
this has led to other methods for providing 
winter protection which, to say the least, are 
far from what they should be. Better put the 
bees in the cellar a thousand times than to 
leave them outdoors once without proper cas- 
ing. Beekeepers of this class usually place 

287 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

over every hive an empty section super, in 
which is stuffed a bag containing old leaves, 
cut hay, wheat chaff, or even rags, and with 
the lid over this, the hives are left for the winter. 
We would not say that such packing is of no 
benefit, but it does fall far short in giving the 
extra warmth that goes to make up successful 
outdoor wintering. 

Still another class of beekeepers resort to 
old newspapers, and where about an inch of 
these is placed on top of the board covering the 
brood nest, the lid being previously removed, 
and about a dozen thicknesses of paper tied 
around the four sides of the hive, and a deep 
wooden telescope case pressed down over 
the same, leaving of course the entrance of the 
hive open, this will, in the majority of cases 
where moderate winters prevail, winter the 
bees in fairly good shape. 

Other beekeepers make large tenement 
boxes in which they place several hives side 
by side and pack the large case with some 
absorbent packing, covering the case with a 



HOW TO WINTER BEES 

good waterproof paper, and in many cases 
the bees winter remarkably well, but if you 
want to be absolutely certain of wintering 
your bees successfully, even in Canada, adopt 
the following plan used by the author, who 
tried and discarded long ago as unsatisfactory 
most of the methods referred to above. 

For each hive, I have a large winter case 
or nearly square box made of 1 inch 
board, which is by inside measurement five 
inches wider all around than the hive body, 
and six inches deeper. This is a perfectly 
plain box without bottom or lid, but at its 
bottom edges I have some ^ inch thick 
strips that run in at all sides at right angles 
from the sides and which permit of the case 
being slid down over the body of the hive 
with about J inch space all around. The 
lid of the hive must be removed to permit 
of this case going down around the hive. On 
each side of the bottom board of the hive I 
have a cleat running its entire length from 
front to back, to act as a rest for the winter 
u 289 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

case, which rests on both sides on the strips 
that run in at right angles, and prevent the 
winter case from slipping down over the 
entrance of the hive. These cleats, which are 
one inch thick, are left as a permanent part of 
the bottom board and are nailed on just 
a trifle below the edge of where the bottom 
board comes in contact with the bottom edge 
of the hive body, so that the winter case when 
packed will cover the crack completely and 
keep out wind and water. The winter case 
projecting beyond the hive body all around 
prevents completely the clogging of the hive 
entrance with snow, and keeps out the rain. 
When the winter case is in place and the feeder 
or cover board is over the frames, a barrel 
of planer shavings is dumped into it and 
packed tightly around the sides and ends, 
and about eight inches of loose planer shavings 
are put over the top of the hive body. Over 
this winter case is slipped a telescope lid that 
is five inches deep and has a tin roof, and 
by this means perfect conditions prevail, as 

290 



HOW TO WINTER BEES 

the colony has for protection, first its hive 
body ^ inch thick on all sides, then five 
inches of planer shavings all around with 
eight inches on top, and a waterproof tele- 
scope case over this. The lid to this winter 
case can be covered with a good heavy paper 
such as Rubberoid, and will not cost as much 
to make as the one with the sheet iron cover- 
ing. In these perfect cases, the bees are 
comfortable, and even in the extreme north 
will winter in fine shape. 

The metal-covered cap is used all through 
the summer season as a lid for the hive over 
the board cover over the brood nest; and as 
it projects some ten inches all around, it acts 
as a perfect sun shade; when the time comes 
for winter packing it is made to fulfil a two- 
fold purpose by covering the winter case. 
Any one can make these cases, and, as they are 
the result of many years' experiment, they 
are the best in the world. 

When wintering bees in a cellar, the prepa- 
ration of the colonies is about the same as 

291 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

far as strength is concerned, with the possible 
exception that not quite so much honey needs 
to be present in the hive, and the proper time 
to place the bees in the cellar is after cold 
weather has come, — generally speaking this 
is about the 20th of November. The best 
time is after two or three warm days follow- 
ing a cold spell, so that the bees may have a 
final cleansing flight, and when the cold days 
come on again the colonies are ready for 
moving into their winter quarters. Any good 
dry cellar will do for this purpose, but all the 
windows should be darkened, for the bees 
are to winter in absolute darkness, and if the 
entire cellar cannot be devoted to them, a 
part of it should be partitioned off with shin- 
gling-laths and building-paper so that it can 
be kept absolutely dark. 

One by one, toward the close of day, the 
hives on their bottom boards with lids in place 
should be carried in and placed in rows against 
the wall, and when the entire floor space is 
occupied, leaving an aisle down the middle, 



HOW TO WINTER BEES 

other hives may be piled on top of those on the 
floor and on up to the ceiling, leaving every 
hive with a full opening at its entrance. 

When once the bees are placed in their 
winter quarters, the only things to be looked 
after are ventilation, and the maintenance 
of the proper temperature, which may vary 
between forty and sixty degrees, though the 
nearer forty-five it can be kept the better. 
If the temperature should rise on mild days, 
and the bees show signs of restlessness, it 
will be necessary to open the door of the 
cellar or a window after dark and leave them 
open all night, but be sure to close them 
before daybreak lest the bees be lured out by 
the light. 

Even though the winter may be severe 
outside and the bees are not restless, it is an 
excellent thing to ventilate the cellar occa- 
sionally. The ideal plan is first to open a 
part of the cellar most distant from the bees 
and allow fresh air to enter it, and then close 
the outer door, and allow the fresh air to be- 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

come tempered as it were, and then open the 
door that leads into the part of the cellar where 
the bees are stored, and let the tempered air 
into them. By following this method, the 
bees are not disturbed as they would be if the 
cold air were turned in on them directly from 
outdoors. 

Do not be alarmed if during the winter 
some dead bees should accumulate on the cel- 
lar floor, for this does not indicate any injury, 
but they are merely old bees that have died 
off from natural causes and that have crawled 
out of the hive to keep from dying within 
their homes. If the bottoms of the hives 
are fitted with reasonably deep bottom boards, 
it will not be advisable to try to scrape out the 
dead bees with a piece of wire, as some bee- 
keepers advocate, as all such poking has a 
tendency to annoy the bees and disturb their 
slumbers. The less we trouble them, the 
better it will be for all concerned. Where 
house apiaries are used, the packing can be 
done inside the house around the hives, but 

294 



HOW TO WINTER BEES 

house apiaries have long since been discarded 
by progressive beekeepers, as the bees are 
always getting on the floor during the working 
season, to say nothing of other annoyances, 
that led to their rejection years ago. 

The individual beekeeper must be the best 
judge as to the proper time to place his bees 
outdoors in the spring, but, generally speaking, 
the latter part of March, or, better still, when 
the pussy-willows are in bloom, or when 
settled, mild weather prevails, and a little added 
protection in the way of packing-paper placed 
about each hive as it is set out will help to 
keep down spring dwindling. The planer 
shavings, packing, and cases can be left on 
the hives of the bees wintered outdoors until 
fruit bloom, and will go a great way toward 
encouraging early brood-rearing, and here we 
have another advantage in favor of outdoor 
wintering with proper packing. In some of 
the northern states some beekeepers bury their 
bees for winter in long trenches or clamps, 
and cover them with branches and leaves and 

295 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

a foot or so of earth, but we would not ad- 
vise such a plan, especially for the beginner. 
A great deal more might be written about 
the wintering of bees and other plans dis- 
cussed, but as we have given the best two, 
we need not add explanation concerning 
methods that have been discarded, as it will 
only be unprofitable and confusing. By all 
means winter out of doors, and by giving the 
proper protection for the hives in the winter 
cases fully described, you will have a plan 
which is ideal and that will help toward suc- 
cess in a hundred ways. 



296 



CHAPTER XXI 

SOURCES OF HONEY 

nnHE sources from which bees gather 
-^ their honey are many and unexpected, 
and often in a locality that would be con- 
sidered unfavorable, they gather a surplus 
that is simply surprising. It is not even 
necessary to locate in a section where the 
presence of honey- secreting blossoms are 
noticeably abundant, for there are many 
plants seldom observed that yield to the bee- 
keeper a goodly supply of honey. 

Not every flower that blooms produces 
honey, and many a humble blossom likely 
to be overlooked will upon careful examina- 
tion prove to be a most prolific source of 
revenue. Nor is it advisable to plant special 
crops such as alsike, clover, buckwheat, and 
other plants primarily for the honey they will 

297 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

produce, but rather depend upon the bloom 
that is always present in greater or less quantity. 

We would not gainsay the fact that the 
beekeeper is favored who is located in sec- 
tions where honey-producing plants are cul- 
tivated, but, even so, a close scrutiny of the 
flora of any locality will reveal the presence 
of many a source upon which the busy bees will 
levy a handsome tribut*. . 

Study your locality. The following list 
taken from a United S; \tes Department of 
Agriculture Bulletin will give some idea of the 
many sources of supply. The larger the type, 
the more important the plant: — 

NORTH AND NORTHEAST 

NAME [Above 40° N.] time of bloom 

Red or Soft Maple (Acer ruhrum) .... April. 

Alders (Alnus) April. 

Elm (Ulmus) April. 

Willows {Salix) Apr-May. 

Dandelion (Taraxacum taraxacum = T. offi- 
cinale of Gray's Manual) Apr.-May. 

Sugar, Roch^ oi Hard Maple (Acer saccharum 

'^ A. saccharinum oi Gray's M.siimaX) . . Apr.-May. 
298 



SOURCES OF HONEY 

Juneberry, or Service Berry (Amelanchier cana- 
densis) May. 

Wild Crab Apples (Pyrus) May. 

Gooseberry and Currant (Rihes) • . . May. 

Peach, Cherry, and Plum (Prunus) . • . May. 

Pear and Apple (Pyrus) May. 

Huckleberries and Blueberries (Gaylussada 

and Vaccinium) May-June 

CoJVEViON, Black, or Yellow Locust {Rohinia 

pseudacacia) May-June. 

European Horse-chestnut {Msculus hippocasia- 

num) May-June. 

Common Barberry (Berberis vulgaris) . . . May-June. 

Tulip Tree, or *'Whitewood" (Liriodendron 

tulipifera) May- June. 

Grapevines (Vitis) May-June. 

Rape (Brassica napus) May-June. 

White Mustard and Black Mustard {Brassica 

alba and B. nigra) June. 

RASPBERRY {Ruhas) June, 

WHITE CIvOVER (Tnfolium repens) , . June-July. 

ALSIKE CLOVER (Trifolium hybridum) . June-July. 

Edible Chestnut (Castanea dentata = C. sativa 

var. americana of Gray's Manual) . . June-July. 

Alfalfa, or Lucern (Medicago sativa) . . June-July. 

LINDEN, or BASSWOOD (Tilia americana) July. 

Smooth Sumac (Rhus glabra) July. 

Buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis) . . . July. 

299 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

Melilot, Bokhara, or Sweet Clover {Meli- 

lotus alba) July-Aug. 

Indian Corn {Zea mays) July-Aug. 

Melon, Cucumber, Squash, Pumpkin {Citrul- 

lus, Cucumis, and Cucurbita) ..... July-Aug. 
Fireweed (Erechthites hieracifolia) . . . July-Sept. 

Chicory (Cichorium intybus) July-Sept. 

Knotweeds {Polygonum, especially P. penn- 

sylvanicum and P. persicaria) .... Aug.-Sept. 
BUCKWHEAT (Fagopyrum fagopyrum = F. 

esculentum of Gray's Manual) .... Aug.-Sept 
Indian Currant, or Coral Berry (Symphori- 

carpos symphoricarpos = S. vulgaris of 

Gray's Manual) Aug.-Sept. 

Great Willow-herb (Epilobium angusti- 

folium) Aug.-Sept. 

Thorough wort, or Boneset (Eupatorium perfoli- 

atum) Aug.-Sept. 

Burr Marigolds (BidenSy especially Spanish 

Needles, Bidens bipinnata) .... Aug.-Oct. 

Wild Asters {Aster) Aug.-Oct. 

GoLDENRODS {SoUdago) Aug.-Oct. 

MIDDLE SECTION 

[Between 35° and 40® N.] 

Redbud {Cercis canadensis) Mar.-Apr. 

Alder {Alnus rugosa — A. serrulaia of Gray's 

Manual) Mar.-Apr. 

300 



SOURCES OF HONEY 



T. qffl- 



Red or Soft Maple (Acer ruhrum) 

Elm (Ulmus) 

Willows (Salix) 

Dandelion (Taraxacum taraxacum 

cinale t)f Gray's Manual) . . 
Apricot (Prunus armeniaca) , . 
Juneherry (Amelanchier canadensis) 
Wild Crab Apples (Pyrus) . . 
Gooseberry and Currant (Ribes) 
Rhododendrons (Rhododendron) . 
Peachy Cherry y and Plum (Prunus) 
Pear and Apple (Pyrus) , . . 
Crimson Clover (Trifolium incarnatum) 
Huckleberries and Blueberries (Gaylussacia 

and Va^cinium) 

American Holly (Ilex opaca) 

Black Gum, Sour Gum, Tupelo or Pepperidge 

(Nyssa aquatica = N. sylvatica of Gray's 

Manual) 

Manzanitas (Arctostaphylos) (California) . . 
Common, Black, or Yellow Locust (Rohinia 

pseudacacia) 

Barberry (Berberis canadensis) 

TULIP TREE, or *' POPLAR" (Liriodendron 

tulipifera) 

Mountain Laurel (Kalmia latifolia) .... 

Grapevines (Vitis) 

Persimmon (Diospyros virginiana) .... 



Mar.-Apr. 
Mar.-Apr. 
Mar-May. 

Apr.-May. 
Apr.-May. 
Apr-May. 
Apr.-May. 
Apr.-May. 
Apr.-May. 
Apr.-May. 
Apr.-May. 
Apr.-May. 

May. 
May. 



May. 
May. 

May. 
May. 

May. 

May- June. 
May- June. 
May-June 



301 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

White Clover (Trifolium repens) May- June. 

Aldke Clover {Trifolium hyhridum) .... May- June. 

Raspberry (Rubus) May-June. 

CowPEA (Vigna sinensis) May-Aug. 

Edible Chestnut (Castanea dentata = C. 

sativa var. americana of Gray's Manual) June. 

Chinquapin {Castanea pumila) June. 

Catalpas, or Indian Bean Trees (Catalpa) . June. 

Magnolia, or Sweet Bay (Magnolia Glauca) June. 

Linden, or "Linn" (TiZm ammcana) . . . June. 
SOUR WOOD, or SORREL TREE (Oxy- 

dendrum arboreum) June-July. 

Oxeye Daisy, or Whiteweed (Chrysanthemum 

leucanthemum) June-July. 

Smooth Sumac (Rhus glabra) July. 

Buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis) . . . July. 
Cleome, or "Rocky Mountain Bee Plant" 

(Cleome serrulata = C. integrifolia of 

Gray's Manual) (West) July-Aug. 

ALFALFA (Medicago sativa) (West) . . . July-Aug. 
MELILOT, BOKHARA, or SWEET 

CLOVER (Melilotus alba) July-Aug. 

Cucumber, Melon, Squash, Pumpkin (Cucu- 

misy Citrullus, and Cucurbita) .... July-Aug. 
Knotweeds (Polygonum, especially P. pennsyl- 

vanicum and P. persicaria) July-Sept. 

Buckwheat (Fagopyrum fagopyrum = F. escu- 

lentum of Gray's Manual) Aug.-Sept. 

302 



SOURCES OF HONEY 

Wild Asters (Aster, especially Heath-like 

Aster, Aster ericoides) Aug.-Oct 

Thorough wort, or Boneset (Eupatorium perfoli- 

atum) Aug.-Oct. 

Burr Marigolds (Bidens, especially Spanish 

Needles, Bidens bipinncUa) Aug.-Oct. 

Goldenrods (Solidago) Aug.-Oct. 

Indian Corn (Zea mays) July-Aug. 

SOUTH 

[Below 350 NJ 

Redbud (Cerds canadensis) Feb.-Mar. 

Alder (Alnus rugosa = A. serrulata of Gray's 

Manual) Feb.-Mar. 

Red or Soft Maple {Acer ruhrum) .... Feb.-Mar. 

Elm (JJlmus) Feb.-Mar. 

Willows {Satix) Feb.-Mar. 

DandeKon (Taraxacum taraxacum=T. officinale 

of Gray's Manual) Feb.-Mar. 

Apricot (Prunus armeniaca) Feb.-Mar. 

Carolina Cherry, or Laurel Cheixy (Prunus 

caroliniana) March. 

Juneberry (Amelanchier canadensis) . . . March. 

Orange and Lemon (Citrus) Mar.-Apr. 

Cottonwoods or Poplars (Populus) .... Mar.-Apr. 

TiTi (Cliftonia ligustrina) (Florida and south- 
ern Georgia, westward) Mar.-Apr, 

Gooseberry and Currant (Ribes) Mar.-Apr. 

303 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

Peachy Cherry^ and Plum {Prunus) .... Mar-Apr. 

Pear and Apple {Pijrus) Mar.-Apr. 

Huckleberries and Blueberries {Gaylussada 

and Vaccinium) April. 

Crimson Clover {Trifolium incarnatum) . . . April. 

Black Gum, Sour Gum, Tupelo, or Pepper- 
IDGE (Nyssa aquatica = N. sylvatica of 
Gray's Manual) April. 

Ball, or Black Sage {Ramona stachyoidesy R. 
palmeriy etc. = Audihertia stachyoides, 
etc., of the Botany of California) (Cali- 
fornia) April. 

Gallberry, or Holly (Ilex glabra) .... Apr.-May. 

Manzanitas (Arctostaphylos) (California) . . Apr.-May. 

Acacias (Acacia) Apr.-May. 

CommoUy Black, or Yellow Locust (Robinia 

pseudacacia) Apr.-May. 

Persimmon (Diospyros virginiana) .... Apr.-May. 

Edible Chestnut (Castanea dentata = C. 

saliva var. americana of Gray's Manual) . Apr.-May. 

Chinquapin (Castanea pumila) Apr.-May. 

Catalpas (Catalpa) Apr.-May. 

Magnolias (Magnolia) Apr.-May. 

Rhododendrons, Rosebays, Azaleas (Rhododen- 
dron) Apr.-May-June 

Mesquite (Prosopis juliflora) (Texas and 

westward) Apr.-July. 

Cowpea (Vigna sinensis) <, Apr.-Aug. 

304 



SOURCES OF HONEY 

Tulip Tree, or *' Poplar" (Ldriodendron 

tulipifera) May. 

Mountain Laurel (Kcdmia latifolia) .... May. 

Grapevines (Vitis) May. 

Raspberry (Rubus) May. 

China Berry, China Tree, or Pride of India 

{Melia azedarach) May. 

WHITE SAGE (Ramona polystackya = Avdi- 

hertia polystackya of the Botany of California) 

(California) May-June, 

HORSEMINT (Monarda citriodora) . . . May-July. 
SOURWOOD, or SORREL TREE {Oxyden- 

drum arhoreum) May-June. 

SAW PALMETTO (Serenoa serrulata) (coasts 

of Georgia and Florida) May-June. 

Banana (Musa sapierdum) May-Sept. 

Linden, or "Linn" (ri/iaa??ierica?ia) . . . June. 
Red Bay (Persea borbonia = P. carolinensis of 

Gray's Manual) June. 

Indian Corn (Zea mays) June-July. 

Cucumber, Melon, Squash, Pumpkin (Cucumis, 

CitruUus, and Cv^urhitd) June-July. 

CABBAGE PALMETTO {Sabal palmetto), coasts 

of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida) June- July. 
BLACK MANGROVE (Avicennia tamentosa 

and A. oblongijolia) (Florida) .... June-July. 

ALFALFA (Medicago saliva) June-Aug. 

Cotton (Gossypium herbaceum) June-Aug. 

X 305 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

Melilot, Bokhara, or Sweet Clover (Meli- 

lotus alba) June-Aug. 

Wild Pennyroyal (Hedeoma pulegioides) . June-Sept. 
Blue Gum and Red Gum {Eucalyptus globulus 

and E. rostrata) (California) .... July-Oct. 
Wild Buckwheat (Eriogonum fasciculatum) 

(California) Aug-Sept. 

Japan or Bush Clover (Lespedeza striata) . . Aug.-Sept. 
Burr Marigolds (Bidens, especially Spanish 

Needles, Bidens bipinnata) Aug.-frost. 

Wild Asters (Aster, especially Heath-like 

Aster, Aster ericoides) Aug.-frost. 

Goldenrods {Solidago) Aug.-frost. 

It would be well-nigh impossible to give a 
complete list of all the flowers that are more 
or less important, but in addition to the list 
already given we append the following, by 
permission of the editor of " Gleanings in Bee 
Culture," and the beekeeper will do well to 
study it carefully and familiarize himself 
with the plants that are present in his 
immediate vicinity. He will be astonished 
at the varieties to which his bees have 
access. 

Words in small capitals mean the subject 



SOURCES OF HONEY 

is treated of in " Gleanings in Bee Culture." 
"See" means the subject is treated of under 
another name. 

Acacia dealbata, or silver wattle; California, from Aus- 
tralia; commercially important. 

Acacia decurrenSy black wattle; California; similar to the 
above. 

Acacia famesia (huisache); along the Rio Grande; much 
grown in Europe as an ornamental plant. 

Acacia Greggii (catclaw, or una de gato). Southwest Texas, 
New Mexico, and Arizona — see Catclaw. 

Adinomeris squarrosa, golden honey-plant. 

Agave Americana, pulque, century plant; Mexico, 
Southern United States. 

Aguinaldo (Ipomea sidcefolia), Cuba — see Bellflower. 

Alders (Alnus). 

Alfilarila (Erodium cicvtarium), or pin clover; Arizona 
and Cahfornia; an excellent honey and forage plant from 
Europe — see " pin clover ' ' under head of Clover. 

Alfalfa, or lucern (Medicago saliva), see Alfalfa. 

Algarroba {Inga dulsis) and other species. 

Alsike or Swedish clover {Trifolium hyhridum) — see 
Alsike Clover. 

Anchusa tinctoria, dye-plant. All the anchusas are ex- 
cellent bee-plants. 

Antignon leptopus, Mexican rose, or coralita, California, 
Florida, West Indies, and Mexico; an excellent honey-plant. 

307 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

Apple (Fyrus). The whole apple family is here meant — 
see Fruit-blossoms. 

Apricot (Prunus Armeniaoa)y California. 

Archas sapota, sapodilla; fruit-tree of the tropics; Florida. 

Ash {Fraxinus ornus) or flowering or manna ash; planted 
south for its beauty. 

Asters {Aster) of many species almost everywhere — see 
Asters. 

Asparagus (Asparagus officinalis), cultivated. 

Artichoke, true or globe artichoke {Cynara scolymus)* 

Avocada pear (Persea gratissima), Florida. 

Banana (Musa sapientum and M. Cavendishii), Florida 
and the tropics generally. 

Berberry {Berheris vulgaris), 

Basil, or mountain mint (Pycnantkemum lanceolatum), 

Basswood, or American linden (Tilia Americana^ also 
T, heterophylla)y Southern Kentucky, and Allegheny Moun- 
tains — see Basswood. 

Beans (Phaseolus lunatus), lima beans in California; 
horse beans (P. nanus) in British Isles and Holland. 

Bee-balm {Melissa officinalis)^ garden flower. 

Beggar-tick, or burr marigold {Bidens frondosa). United 
States — see Spanish Needle„ 

Bellflower, Christmas bells, Christmas pop, aguinaldo, 
campanilla, etc. {Ipomea sidoefolia), of Cuba, Jamaica, and 
other West India islands and Mexico. 

Bergamot {Monarda Jistulosa), a kind of mint; United 
States. 

308 



SOURCES OF HONEY 

Bignonia radicanSy south — see Nectar. 

Blackberry (Rubus), of many species; Europe and United 
States. 

Black gum — see Nyassa or Tupelo. 

Black mangrove (Avicennia nitida) ; Florida and the coasts 
of all tropic seas; generally known as mangrove except in 
British Guiana, where it is known as "courida" — see Man- 
grove. 

Blackheart, or water smartweed (Polygonum acre), closely 
related to buckwheat: Illinois. 

Black mustard (Brassica nigra) — see Mustard. 

Black sage (Ramona stachy aides and R. palmeri), Cali- 
fornia — see Sage. 

Bladdernut (Staphylea trifolia), north and west. 

Blue gum (Eucalyptus globulus), Tasmania and Cali- 
fornia — see Eucalyptus. 

Blue thistle (Echium vulgare) viper's bugloss; a weed 
from Europe; Virginia and Pennsylvania. 

Boneset, or thoroughwort (Eupatorium perfoliatum) , a 
honey-plant of considerable importance. 

Borage (Borago officinalis), Em-ope, but now well known in 
the United States. 

Box-elder, or ash-leaved maple (Acer negundo). Northern 
States. 

Boxwood (Buxus sempervirens) y the tree box of the Balearic 
Islands and Turkey; produces much honey but it is very 
bitter; introduced into the U. S. 

Buckbush (Symphoricarpus vulgaris) — see Buckbush. 

309 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

Buckeye {Msculus glabra), Ohio and similar States. 

Buckthorn (Rhamnus catharticus). Southern States. 

Buttercup, oxaKs of Bermuda (Oxalis Bermudiana), fine 
for those who wish to plant for bees. 

Buckwheat (Polygonum fagopyrum) — see Buckwheat. 

Buckwheat, wild (Polygonum acre), also blackheart. 

Burdock (Lappa major) , has white pollen. 

Burr marigold (Bidensfrondosa), a near relative of Spanish 
needle, which see. 

Bush honeysuckle (Diervilla Japonica), cultivated, Japan. 

Button-bush (Cephalanthus occidentalis); important on 
the overflowed lands of the Mississippi. 

Butterweed (Senecio lobatus). South and Southwest. 

Cabbage (Brassica oleracea) common cabbage: see also 
colza, rape, turnip, charlock, white and black mustard, be- 
longing to the Cabbage family. 

Campanilla (Ipomea sidcefolia), Cuba — see Bellflower. 

Canada thistle (Cirsium arvense), in Canada. 

Cassia (Cassia chamoBcrista). Probably all cassias are 
honey-plants. 

Cardoon (Cynara cardunculus) ; good where grown for 
seed; very common in Argentina. 

Cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis). 

Carob bean (Ceratonia siliqua) — St. John's bread for the 
Southwest; similar to catclaw. 

Carpenter's square — see Figwort. 

Catalpa (Catalpa speciosa), hardy catalpa, planted for its 
timber and shade. 

310 



SOURCES OF HONEY 

Catclaw (Acacia Greggii), important in the Southwest — 
see Catclaw. 

Catnip (Nepeta cataria), an important honey-plant in 
Europe and North America. 

Ceratonia siliqua, or St. John's bread, now introduced into 
the United States from Europe, will probably become important. 

Chaste-tree (Vitex agnus castus) introduced from Europe 
into parks, cemeteries, etc. This and the New Zealand 
species, Vitex littoralesy are excellent. 

Chayote (Sechium edule), grown as a vegetable around 
New Orleans; a good honey-plant. 

Cherry (JPrunus cerasus)^ the cultivated cherry. 

Chick pea (Cicer arietinum), known in the West as coffee 
pea; grown very largely in Mexico — "garbanza." 

Chicory (Cichorium intybus), cultivated in Europe — a 
common weed here. 

Chinquapin (Castanea pumila), of considerable impor- 
tance to the South. 

Cleome integrifoliay also C. spinosa, same as Rocky Moun- 
tain bee-plant, which see. 

Clovers — see article under this head; also Alfalfa, 
Alsike, Sainfoin, Sulla, Crimson Cl., Sweet and Pea- 
vine Cl. 

Clover, alsike (Trifolium hybridium), Swedish clover — ■ 
see Clover. 

Clover, crimson (Trifolium incarnatum) — see Crimson 
Clover. 

Clover, red (Trifolium pratense) — see Clover, 

311 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

Clover, yellow {Trifolium procumbens). New England, 
Eastern and Middle States to Tennessee. 

Cocoanut (Cocoa nucifera), Florida and the tropics. 

Coffee (Coffea Arahica and Liberica); honey clear, but 
season very short ; sometimes grown in Florida. 

Coreopsis (Coreopsis aristosa) — see Span, Needle; Illi- 
nois and Missouri. 

Corn, Indian (Zea mays) ; under certain conditions maize, 
or corn, is a good honey-plant. 

Cotton (Gossypium herbaceum) ; south; some say it com- 
pares with clover. 

Cowpea (Vigna sinensis) ; Southern States. 

Crab apple (Pyrus coronaria). New York; west and south. 

Crocus (Crocus), of many species; both spring and fall 
varieties are good. 

Crowfoot (Ranunculus repens). 

Cucumber (Cucumis sativus). In the vicinity of pickle- 
factories this plant yields quite a harvest of honey after clover 
is over. 

Culver's root (Veronica Virginica) ; north. 

Currant (Ribes rubrum), from Europe; cultivated. 

Cytisus proliferous alba — tree alfalfa; grown a little in 
California; a great honey-plant in the Canary Islands. 

Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale). 

Date (Phcenix dactylifera) ; a great honey-plant now being 
planted in Arizona and California. 

Duranta plumieriy or pigeon-berry, recently introduced 
into Florida and California; an exquisite honey-plant. 

312 



SOURCES OF HONEY 

Ebony {Zygia fiexicaulis) , Southwest Texas — not the 
true ebony. 

Echinops spherocephalusy also E. ritro — excellent plants 
for introduction — see Chapman, H. P. 

Elms (Ulmus), of various species. Where plentiful the 
elms are of considerable importance on account of their aid 
in early brood-rearing. 

Eriohotrya Japonica — loquat fruit of Japan; excellent 
honey-plant; Florida, Gulf Coast, California, Georgia, and 
Arizona ; known in some sections as Japan plum. 

Esparcette — see Sainfoin. 

False indigo {Amorpha fruclicosa)^ Ohio, Pennsylvania; 
south and west. 

Figwort (Scrofularia nodosa) — see Figwort. 

Fireweed, or willow-herb, which see (Epilobium angiisti- 
foliwfn), the great fireweed of the North; Ontario, Quebec, 
Northern Michigan, and the Hudson Bay country. 

Fog-fruit {Lipyia nodiflora), California (carpet-weed); 
Texas and the West Indies; a great honey-plant, but Httle 
known. See Carpet Grass. 

Freesia refracta alba, an exquisite honey-plant grown in 
California for its bulbs ; also in Florida and the Gulf Coast. 

Gallberry, or holly (Ilex glabra), south; important. 

Genip (Melicocca bijuga), in South Florida; heavy yieldel 
where common. 

Germander, or wood-sage (Tettcrium Canadense). 

Giant hyssop (Lophanthus) — species, north and west. 

Gill-over-the-ground, or ground-ivy {Nepeta glechoma), 

313 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

Giant mignonette (Reseda grandiflora) — see Mignonette. 

Golden apple (Spondias dulcis), Florida. 

Golden honey-plant (Actinomeris squarrosa). 

Goldenrod (Solidago) , — species. 

Gooseberry {Rihes grossularia). 

Grape {Vitis lahrusea). 

Ground-ivy (Nepeta glechoma). 

Heal-all, or figwort (Scrofularia nodosa) — see Figwort. 

Hibiscus esculentus — okra, or gumbo, of the South. 

Hibiscus sabdariffa — Jamaica sorrel of Florida. 

Huajilla (Zygia brevifolia), Texas and adjacent countries. 
See Huajilla. 

Hawthorn (Cratagus Oxycantha), Great Britain, Ireland, 
and North Europe; introduced here. 

Hazelnut and filbert (Corylus avelana and C. Americana), 
valuable in early spring for pollen. 

Heartsease, which see, or large smartweed (Persicaria 
mite) , on the overflowed lands of the Mississippi River. 

Heather (Erica vulgaris); a prolific source of honey in 
Europe and the British Isles. The honey is thick, with a rich 
flavor. In the same latitude on this continent its place is 
taken by the fire weed, which see — an excellent yielder 
also. 

Hercules club (Aralia spinosa). 

Hemp (Cannabis sativa, also C. Indica), ganja of the East. 

Horehound (Marrubium vulgare). Good yields of honey 
have been reported from this plant; but it is so bitter as to 
be worthless except as medicine. It might improve with age. 

314 



SOURCES OF HONEY 

Hog-plum (Spondias luted); Florida; a splendid yieldei 
of honey. Known as hobo in Cuba. 

Holly, American (Ilex opaca). 

Honey-locust (Gleditschia triacantkos), also known as white 
locust. 

Honeysuckle (Lonicera caprifolid), and some other species 
not so well known. 

Horse-chestnut (Mculus hippocastanum) , European species. 

Horsemint, which see (Monarda fistula). 

Hoya carnosa, or wax-plant — see Nectar. 

Huisache, Mexican name for Acacia Farnesiana, a beauti- 
ful tree of the Southwest, similar to catclaw. 

Indian currant, coral-berry, buckbush, which see (Sym- 
fhoricarpus vulgaris). 

Ironwood, or hornbeam (Carpinus Americana). 

Japanese buckwheat — see Buckwheat. 

Japan plum; south; same as *'loquat." 

Japan privet {Ligustrum J aponicum) , all Southern States 
and California; hedge-plant of the best. 

Judas-tree, redbud (Cerds Canadensis). 

June-berry, service-berry, shad-berry (Amelanchier Canor 
densis). 

Knotweed, or, heartsease which see (Persicaria mite). 

Lantana (L. nivea and L. mixta) > Florida, Bahamas, and 
Bermuda. 

Lemon {Citrus limonum), Florida and California. 

Lentil (Ervum lens), or pulse of the East; much used in 
Europe to make soup. Italians grow it in this country. 

315 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

Lime (Tilia Europea), English name for linden or bass- 
wood; now much planted as an avenue tree in the United 
States. 

Lime (Citrus limetta); Florida, CaUfornia, and the West 
Indies. 

Limnanthes Douglasii, or marsh-flower; native of Cali- 
fornia; cultivated in England for bees. 

Linden (Tilia Europea)^ or European basswood; famous 
in Berhn and other places as a street tree; now popular in 
the United States. 

Liquidambar Styracifluay sweet gum ; very important, par- 
ticularly south. 

Locust, which see (Robinia pseudacacia) ; now being 
planted for its timber in Ohio and other States. See Locust. 

Logwood (HcBTnatoxylon Campechianum); the various 
states bordering on the bay of Campeche; introduced into 
Florida, Jamaica, West Indies, and South America. See 
Logwood. 

Loquat (Eriobotyra Japonica) ; sometimes wrongly named 
Japan plum ; south ; valuable because it flowers very late. 

Lucern (Medicago sativa); the English name for the 
Spanish alfalfa. 

Lupine (Lupinus perennis). 

Madrona (Arbutus Xalapensis), southwest. 

Magnolia (M. grandiflora and others) ; south. 

Malva (M. alcea). 

Mammoth red or peavine clover — see Clover. 

Manzanita (Arctostaphylos) , California. 
316 



SOURCES OF HONEY 

Maples (Acer), — species. The different species are o! 
much value, yielding well for early brood-rearing. 

Marigold, which see (Gailardia pulchella). 

Marjoram (Origanum vulgare). 

Marsh sunflower (Helianthus strumosus). 

Matrimony- vine (Lydum vulgare). 

Meadow-sweet, or spiraea (Spirea salicifolia). 

Melilot (Melilotus alba) , or honey lotus — see Sweet 
Clover, white and yellow. 

Melons (Cux^urbita melo). Melons of all kinds are valuable 
to apiarists. 

Mesquite, which see (Prosopis pubescens and julijlora); 
southwest and New Mexico. 

Mignonette (Reseda odorata). 

Milkweed (Asclepias eornuti). 

Milk- vetch (Astragalus Canadensis), 

Motherwort (Leonurus cardiaca). 

Mountain laurel, sheep laurel, rhododendron (Kalmia 
latifolia), famous for producing honey which has sickening 
properties — see Poisonous H. P. 

Mustard (Brassica arvensis)^ charlock of England. 

Okra, or gumbo (Hibiscus esculentus). 

Onion (Allium cepa). There are reports of yields of honey 
from fields of onions cultivated for seed, having very strongly 
the peculiar onion odor, which, however, disappears after a time. 

Orange (Citrus aurantium) ; considered valuable in some 
places. 

Oxeye daisy (Bellis integrifolia) ; Kentucky and southwest 
317 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

Palmetto. 

Parsnip (Padinaca sativd)^ from the common parsnip 
run wild. 

Partridge pea (Cassia chamoecrista). 

Peach (Prunus Persica) — see Fruit-Blossoms. 

Pea vine, or mammoth red clover (Trifolium pratense) — 
see Clover. 

Pecans {Hicoria Pecan). Good in the South. 

Pepperidge — see Tupelo. 

Peppermint {Mentha vulgaris). 

Pepper-tree (Schinus molle), Cahfornia and Florida; fine 
shade-tree; excellent for honey. 

Persimmon (Diospyrus Virginianum and Texana) ; known 
as "lotus" in Europe. 

Phacelia tanacetifolia, a beautiful garden-plant from Cali- 
fornia. 

Phormium tenax. New Zealand flax; sometimes grown 
south ; good yielder ; may become very important commercially. 

Pin-clover, or alfilarila {Er odium Cicutarium Geranicce). 

Plane-tree (Platanus orientalis), also known as sycamore 
or buttonwood; good in Europe, and introduced here; simi- 
lar to our sycamore ; a fine shade-tree. 

Plantain, or rib-grass (Plantago major), has white pollen. 

Plantain fruit (Musa paradisica), similar to the banana, 
but extensively used as a vegetable in all tropic latitudes, 
Florida, and Porto Rico. 

Pleurisy-root (Asclepias tuberosa) ; highly praised by James 
Heddon. 

318 



SOURCES OF HONEY 

Plums. All kinds of wild plums yield honej. 

Pmnciana regia, Florida. 

Poplar, or whitewood, which see {Liriodendron tulipi/era). 

Poplar (Populus), south. 

Prairie clover (Petalostemon Candida), good in Texas. 

Protea mellifera alba. South Africa; a wonderful yielder 
of honey. See Nectar. 

Pumpkin {Cucurbita pepo); cultivated; the original, 
C. ovifera, runs wild in Texas. 

Rape {Brassica campestris). 

Raspberry (Rubus strigosus). Northern Michigan and 
similar localities; R. idcesis, European raspberry, and R, 
roswfolius, Porto Rico and West Indies. 

Rattan (Berchemia scandens) ; Texas ; a heavy yielder. 

Rattlesnake root, or white lettuce (Nabalus altissimus), 

Rattleweed, or figwort, which see. 

Redbay (Persea Carolinensis), south. 

Redbud, or Judas-tree (Cercis Canadensis). 

Red gum {Eucalyptus rostrata), CaUfornia and native of 
Australia. 

Rhododendron, species; rosebays, azaleas, species; and 
sheep laurels, or mountain laurels; important in the moun- 
tains of the South; known in England as American plants. 
Rhododendron pontica was the source of the honey which 
poisoned Xenophon's army of ten thousand. 

Rocky Mountain bee-plant, which see (Cleame integru 
folia). 

Royal palm {Oreodoxa regrm), Florida, Cuba, and Porto Rica 
319 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

Rose apple (Eugenia jambos), Florida; very important in 
Cuba and Porto Rico. 

Sage, black (Ramona stachyoides and R. palmeri); very 
important in California — see Sage. 

Sage, white (Ramona polystachia) ; California. 

St. John's- wort (Hypericum) , — species. 

Sage, button, same as black sage, which see. 

Sainfoin, which see (Onohrychis sativa); a great plant* 
similar to alfalfa. 

Saw palmetto (Sabal serrulata) ; Georgia and Florida. 

Serradella clover (Ornithopus sativus) ; a fine honey-plant, 
similar to sainfoin, which see. 

Shadbush (Amelanchier Canadensis), also known as June- 
berry and service-berry. 

Shaddock, pomelo, or grape fruit (Citrus decumana); 
Florida and California. 

Simpson honey-plant, same as figwort, which see. 

Smartweed, same as heartsease, which see. 

Sneezeweed (Helenium autumnale). 

Sorrel-tree, same as sourwood, which see. 

Sourwood (Oxydendron arboreum); Pennsylvania, Ohio, 
and south. 

Spanish needle, which see (Coreopsis aristosa and C. aurea), 
better known as tickseed. 

Spider-flower or spider-plant, which see (Cleome pungens). 

Square-stalk, same as figwort, which see. 

Squash (Cucurbita maxima). 

Stone crop (Sedum pulchellum), south. 

320 



SOURCES OF HONEY 

Strawberry (Fragaria vesca) ; cultivated. 

Sulla clover (Hedysarum coronarium) , or Spanish sainfoin; 
a good honey-plant for the Gulf States. 

Sumac {Rhus venenata). 

Sunflower {Heliardhus major). 

Sweet clover {Melilotus alba) — see Cloveb. 

Sweet gum — see Liquidamhar styracifiiia. 

Sweet potato (Ipomea batata). 

Tea (Thea Bohea). 

Thistle (Cirsium arvense), Canada. 

Thyme {Thymus vulgaris). The classical honey of Mount 
Hymettus was from this. 

Tickseed, or Spanish needle, which see. 

Ti-Ti {Cliftonia mxmophylla) ; Georgia and Florida prin- 
cipally. 

Touch-me-not, or swamp balsam {Impatiens pallida) — 
see Pollen. 

Trefoil, or clover, which see. 

Tulip-tree, or whitewood, which see (Liriodendron tvlipi- 
fera). 

Tupelo {Nyssa mvltiflora), common tupelo, or sour gum; 
N. aqvatica, water tupelo or gimi; N. uniflora, large tupelo; 
N. capitala^ Ogeechee lime; very important south. 

Turnip {Brassica depressa). 

Valerian {Valeriana edulus) ; Ohio and westward. 

Varnish-tree {Alyanthus glandulosa); south from Japan; 
honey bad. 

Vervain {Verbena officinalis), 

T 321 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

Viper's bugloss, or blue thistle, which see {Echium vulgare). 

Vetch (Vicia), — species. 

Virginia creeper (Ampelopsis quinquefolia), 

Vitus bipinnata, south. 

Vitex agnus castus, chaste-tree in Europe and United States; 
introduced ; V. littoralisy important in New Zealand. 

White mustard (Brassica alba). 

White wood, which see {Liriodendron tulipifera). 

White sage (Ramona polystachya) , CaliioTma,. 

Wild buckwheat {Polygonum); produces a light-colored 
honey. 

Wild cherry (JPrunus Pennsylvanica), north. 

Wild senna {Cassia chamoecrista) . 

Wild rose {Rosa Carolina, lumda, blanda, caninat rugosa). 

Wild sunflower {Helianthus) , — species. 

Willow {Salix). All species form an important class, 
coming as they do early in the season, and yielding both honey 
and pollen. 

Willow-herb, which see {Epilobium angustifolium) , 
northern parts of the United States and Canada. 

Wistaria {Wistaria chinensis). 

Yellow- wood {Virgilia luted). Virginia. One of the 
finest native ornamental trees. 

CONCLUDING WORD 
X ET no one imagine from the foregoing 
-*— ^ chapters of this work that beekeeping is a 
royal road to wealth, for there is a vast amount 

32^ 



SOURCES OF HONEY 

of experience and hard work demanded to 
make it a success, but it can be said in all 
truthfulness, that for the amount of time and 
application given to this most interesting de- 
partment of rural life, the returns are far 
greater than in almost any other field of 
endeavor. 

To be out in the great outdoors, amid the 
hum of these marvellously active and won- 
derfully intelligent creatures, is compensation 
enough in itself for the labor we give to them. 
But taking a more practical and perhaps 
sordid view of the subject, there is no reason 
in the world why any man or woman of in- 
telligence may not, after several seasons' ex- 
perience, make the bee a sole means of live- 
lihood, and in the doing have their work con- 
fined to the most delightful months of the year. 
The practical work in the bee yard will be 
compassed between March and November, 
while the rest of the year may be devoted to 
disposing of the crop or in other avenues 
of congenial endeavor. 

323 



HOW TO KEEP BEES FOR PROFIT 

Beekeeping has been called the poetry of 
agriculture, and certainly there is no more 
noble profession on earth, nor one in which 
the exercise of skill and experience will bring 
a more liberal income for men and women 
who give their time and effort to its pursuit. 

As we stand amid the hives and hear the 
merry hum of its many thousand denizens, 
there will come to us again and again a feel- 
ing of contentment in the knowledge that 
their multiplied efforts are in our behalf; and 
when the season draws near for the gathering 
of the harvest of golden nectar, how proud 
we are to know that owing to our skill 
and direction, the busy little people have suc- 
ceeded in gathering far more nectar than if 
left to their own inclinations. The greatest 
of the world's writers have written of these 
wonderful little creatures; how infinitely better 
is it to know and care for them and realize 
they are ours, and have wrought to make us 
happier and wealthier. 



SU 



INDEX 



After-swarms, treatment of, 48. 

Age of bees, 46, 50-51. 

Alexander, E, W., method of 
doubling colonies practised by, 
153, 170; experience of, in 
matter of large apiary in one 
yard, 185-186; treatment of 
bee diseases by, 196-197. 

Alexander feeder, the, 272-273. 

Alfalfa as forage for bees, 173. 

Alley Method of queen-rearing, 
109. 

Alsatian gingerbread made with 
honey, 248. 

American foul brood disease, 187- 
194. 

Antennae of bees, 14. 

Apiaries, system of out apiaries, 
58, 173 ff.; location of, and of 
hives in, 172 ff. ; house apiaries, 
294-295. 

Apple-butter from honey, 246. 

Artificial comb honey, impossi- 
bility of making, 31. 

Automatic hivers, fallacy of, 92. 

Bakers, use of honey by, 236-238. 

Banat bees, 24. 

Baskets for tools, 68. 

Basswood, fondness of bees for, 
38. 

Bears, damage to hives from, 200. 

Bees, life of, 3; physiology of, 
11-17; workers, 12, 13, 45, 48- 
49, 52, 54; drones, 13, 51, 52- 
54; queens, 13, 26-27, 41-44, 
46, 48, 97 ff., 100, 111, 113-115, 



164-167, 199; races and varie. 
ties, 18-27; homes of, 28-39; 
constitution of family, 40-54; 
mating of, 41-43; moving of, 
59-64, 179-180; handling of, 
73-82; swarming of, 83-96; 
increasing of, 152-171; diseases 
of, 187-198; enemies of, 199- 
201 ; robbers and robbing, 258- 
268; feeding, 269-282; winter- 
ing of, 283-296. 

Beeswax, uses of, 217-219; 
methods of rendering, 221-229. 
See Wax. 

Bingham uncapping knife, 145. 

Birds as bee enemies, 199. 

Black bees, 18-20; resemblance 
of Caucasians to, 24. 

Black brood disease, 189-192, 
194-197. 

Bleaching of wax, 225-228. 

Blood of bees, 16. 

Boardman entrance feeder, 168, 
273. 

Books on bees, 11, 17. 

Bottling extracted honey, 204- 
205. 

Brood nest, the, 71-72. 

Buckwheat, as forage for bees, 
173; flavor of honey from, 231. 

Candles from beeswax, 218, 229. 
Candy from honey, 245, 247, 249, 

252, 253. 
Carniolan bees, 21-22. 
Caucasian bees, 22-24. 
Cellars for wintering bees, 291-294. 



325 



INDEX 



Cells, size and structure of, 33-34; 

of queen bees, 46. 
Chaff hives for outdoor wintering, 

287. 
Clothing for beekeepers, 68-70. 
Clover, flavor of honey from, 

231. 
Color of honey, variation in, 231. 
Colors, bees' choice of, 69-70. 
Comb honey, shallow brood nest 

hives for, 71-72; production of, 

117-132; marketing of, 208 ff.; 

grading of, 211-215; choice of 

sections for, 215-216. 
Combs, structure and composition 

of, 12; method of manufacture, 

32-33. 
Concrete hive stands, 176. 
Constipation, honey a cure for. 

249, 255-256. 
Cooking recipes with honey, 240- 

263. 
Cough-cures from honey, 246, 

254, 256, 257. 
Croup remedy from honey, 255. 
Cyprian bees, 20-21. 

Daisy Foundation fastener, 123. 

Diseases of bees, 187-199. 

Distance that bees will travel, 
185. 

Doolittle Division board feeder, 
277. 

Doolittle system of queen-rearing, 
108-109. 

Dragon flies as bee enemies, 199. 

Dress for women beekeepers, 68- 
69. 

Drinks from honey, 246-247. 

Drones, class of bees constituting, 
13; fertilization of queen bees 
by, 44-45 ; rearing and develop- 
ment of , 51 ; eggs which produce, 
62-53; life of, 53-64. 

Dyspepsia remedies from honey, 
247, 265. 



Eggs, 12-13; for production ol 
queens, 46; for production oi 
worker bees, 48-49; develop- 
ment of, into grubs, 49; laying 
of drones' and workers', 52. 

Embalming, beeswax used in, 217. 

Enemies of bees, 199-201. 

Escape boards, 129. 

European foul brood disease, 187- 
188, 194-197. 

Excluding-boards, 136-137, 

Extracted honey, defined, 117; 
production of, 133-151; mar- 
keting of, 203-208. 

Extractors, selection of, 143-145. 

Eyes of bees, 14. 

Feeding and feeders, 168, 269- 

282. 
Field mice as bee enemies, 199- 

200. 
Flavor of honey affected by its 

source, 37-38. 
Food constituents in honey, 230 ff. 
Forage for bees, 172-173, 297- 

321. 
Foul brood disease, 187-191. 
Foundation, wax, 30-31; the 

cutting of, 122; methods of 

fastening to tops of section 

boxes, 123; importance of 

properly wiring in, 135; pure 

beeswax the only, 218. 
Frames for hives, 29-30; choice 

of, 72; question of depth of, 

119. 
Frogs as bee enemies, 199. 
Funeral, story of bees at a, 35-36. 

"Gleanings in Bee Culture," 

quoted, 154-167. 
Gloves for working with bees, 81. 
Grading comb honey, 211-216. 

Hazel Atlas Simplex jars, 205. 
Hearts of bees, 16. 



INDEX 



Hetherington, Captain, plan of 
swarm control of, 93-94. 

Hives, manufacture of, 64; size 
of, 64-65; choice of, 70-72; 
opening of, 76-79; advantages 
of modern, 118-119; question 
of depth, 119; size of, for pro- 
duction of extracted honey, 137; 
location of, 174-175; arrange- 
ment of, in groups, 175-176; 
stands for, 176-177; for out- 
door wintering, 287. 

Hive tools, 67-68. 

Homes of bees, 28-39. 

Honey, amount of, produced by 
single hive, 7-8; not a product 
but the food of bees, 36-37 
effect of sources on flavor, 37 
sources of, 55-58, 297-321 
comb honey and extracted 
honey, 117; receptacles for 
storing extracted, 149 ; market- 
ing of, 202-216; food constitu- 
ents in, 230 ff.; superiority of, 
to sugar for certain purposes, 
234-237; use of, in bread, cakes, 
and confectionery, 237-239 ; 
as medicine, 239; in soaps and 
salves, 239-240; in cooking 
recipes, 240-253. 

Honey-boards, 136-137. 

Honey-bread, 237-238. 

Honey sac, the, 15. 

House apiaries, 294-295. 

Hybrids, 20. 

Implements, 65-68. 

Increase, methods of artificial, 

152-171. 
Indoor wintering, 284-286, 291- 

295. 
Italian bees, 18, 20, 24-27; as 

robbers, 258. 

Jars for honey, 203-205. 
Jumbles, honey, 238, 240-241. 



Kneipp's honey-salve recipe, 254. 
Knives, choice of, for uncapping, 
143-146. 

Langstroth, L. L., father of Amer- 
ican bee-keeping, vii; frame 
hive invented by, 30. 

Larvae, 49-50; grafting of, 104- 
105. 

Life, length of bees', 3. 

Liquefying granulated honey, 
204-205. 

Literature on bees, 11, 17. 

Location of apiaries, 172-175. 

Lyon feeder, the, 274-276, 279- 
280. 

McEvoy, William, treatment of 

diseased bees by, 193-194. 
Marketing of honey, 202-216. 
Mating of bees, 41-44; of virgins 

under Swarthmore method, 109- 

110. 
Mating-boxes, 110. 
Medicine, honey as, 239, 247, 249, 

254-257. 
Mice as bee enemies, 199-200. 
Migratory bee-keeping, 181, 183- 

184. 
Miller, Dr. C. C, cited, 56. 
Miller feeder, the, 278. 
Mills, Don, mentioned, 161. 
Moving bees, 59-64; from out 

apiaries to home yards, 179- 

180. 

Newspapers, use of, in preparing 
hives for outdoor wintering, 288. 
Nurse bees, 49-50. 

Odors, effect of, on bees, 70, 74; 

distinctive odors of different 

bee colonies, 115. 
Orchards, question of locating 

hives in, 175. 
Out apiaries, 58, 173 fif.; location 



327 



INDEX 



of, 174-175; operation of, 177- 

179; general advisability of 

establishing, 184-186. 
Outdoor wintering, 283, 286-291, 

295-296. 
Overalls for women beekeepers, 

69. 

Paralysis, disease of bees, 197- 

198. 
Parthenogenesis among bees, 44. 
Paste made from honey, 247. 
Phillips, E. F., bee expert, 195. 
Physiology of bees, 11-17. 
Plants on which bees feed, 306- 

321. 
Poison in stings, 16. 
Pollen-gathering, 38-39. 
Pollination of fruit blossoms by 

bees, 4-5. 
Porter bee escape, the, 129. 
Pratt, E. R., 101. 
Preserves made with honey, 251. 
Presses for extracting wax, 222- 

224. 
Prices of honey, 203, 206, 207. 
Profits from bee-keeping, 6, 8-9, 

206-207. 
Propolis, bee-glue, 23, 34-35. 
Purchasing swarms, 59. 
Pure food laws, 208; effect on 

honey production, 231-232. 

Queen bees, 13; choice of, in 
selecting Italian bees, 26-27; 
position of, in hives, 40—41; 
fertilization of, 41-44; appear- 
ance of, 44; age and powers of, 
46; laying of eggs by, 48; rais- 
ing of, 97 ff . ; destruction of old, 
100; tested and untested, 111; 
Introduction of, to strange 
hives, 113-115, 164-167; ene- 
mies that prey on, 199. 

Queen-excluding boards, 136-137. 

Queen-rearing, 97 ff.; Swarth- 



more system of, 101-110; 
danger from robber bees during, 
261. 

Races of bees, 18-27. 
Raising queen bees, 97-116. 
Rauchfauss veil, the, 67. 
Recipes, honey cooking, 240-253. 
Refining wax, method of, 225-228. 
Reproduction, method of, 41-44, 

83, 109-110. 
Robbing, the matter of, 258-268. 
Ronan, J. D., mentioned, 161. 
Root Jumbo smoker, the, 66. 
Root twin mating-box, 110. 
Root wire excluding-board, 137. 
Rules for grading comb honey, 

211-214. 

Sale of honey, 202-216. 

Sections, choice of size, 131; for 

marketing comb honey, 215. 
Sentinel bees, 3. 
Shipping bees, 59-64, 180-183. 
Shipping honey, 208-211. 
Shipping-cases, 209-210. 
Shook Swarm Plan, the, 90. 
SimpUcity feeder, the, 272. 
Skunks as bee enemies, 200. 
Smokers, 65-66. 
Snakes as bee enemies, 200. 
Solar wax extractors, 221-222. 
Sources of honey, 55-57, 297-321. 
Spring dwindling, condition 

known as, 198-199; preventive 

measures, 285. 
Stands for hives, 176-177. 
Sting, the, 16. 
Stings, avoidance of, 73-76; the 

poison of, 80; removal of, 80- 

81; remedies for, 81; effect on 

the bee, 82. 
Sulking, treatment for, 126-127. 
Super chamber, the, 71 ; insertion 

of, 124; for extracting honey, 

133-134. 



328 



INDEX 



Superstitions concerning bees, 35- 
36. 

Swarming, reason for, 83; time 
of, 83-84; signs of, 84; method 
to be followed in case of, 86-87; 
plans to prevent, 89-96. 

Swarthmore system of queen- 
rearing, 101 ff. 

Tents for use in working over 

hives, 267. 
Tiering, process of, 125; in pro- 
' duction of extracted honey, 

140-141. 
Time for handling bees, 76. 
Tongues of bees, 14-15. 
Tools, 65-68. 
Transferring bees from one hive 

to another, 60-63. 
Transportation of bees, 59-60, 

180-183. 
Trouser legs, closing ends of, 

68. 

Uncapping, process of, 146-147. 

Varieties of bees, 18-27. 
Veils, 67. 



Ventilation of cellars for winter- 
ing bees, 293-294. 

Vinegar from honey, 251. 

Virgin queens, flight and impreg- 
nation of, 199. See Queens. 

Wax, method of securing, 139; 
uses of, 217-219; methods of 
rendering, 221-229; bleaching 
of, 225-228; use of, in confec- 
tionery, 239; as a base in 
salves, 240. 

Wax-building, process of, 32-33. 

Wax extractors, 221-224. 

Wax foundation, 30-31, 218. 

Wintering bees, 283-296. 

Women, as beekeepers, 6-7; 
proper dress for, 68-69. 

Worker bees, 12, 13, 48-49; so- 
called reverence of, for queen 
bees, 45; laying of eggs which 
produce, 52; treatment of 
drones by, 54. 

Young, life of the, 2; develop- 
ment and feeding of, 49-50; 
freedom from stinging by, 76. 

Zinc honey-boards, 136. 



Printed in the United States of America. 



329 



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Addams — The Spirit of Youth and the City Streets. By Jane 

Addams. 

" Shows such sanity, such breadth and tolerance of mind, and such 

penetration into the inner meanings of outward phenomena as to 

make it a book which no one can afford to miss." — New York Times. 

Addams — A New Conscience and An Ancient Evil. By Jane 
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3 



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4 



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Hillquit — Socialism in Theory and Practice. By Morris Hillquit. 
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Hodges — Everyman's Religion. By George Hodges. 

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Hunter — Poverty. By Robert Hunter. 

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Jeflferson — The Building of the Church. By Charles E. Jefferson. 
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King — The Ethics of Jesus. By Henry Churchill King. 

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5 



King — Rational Living, By Henry Churchill King. 

" An able conspectus of modern psychological investigation, 
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London — The War of the Classes. By Jack London. 

" Mr. London's book is thoroughly interesting, and his point of 
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London — Revolution and Other Essays. By Jack London. 
" Vigorous, socialistic essays, animating and insistent." 

Lyon — How to Keep Bees for Profit. By Everett D. Lyon. 

" A book which gives an insight into the life history of the bee 
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McLennan — A Manual of Practical Farming. By John McLennan. 

" The author has placed before the reader in the simplest terms a 

means of assistance in the ordinary problems of farming." — 

National Nurseryman. 

Mabie — William Shakespeare: Poet, Dramatist, and Man. By 

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Mahaffy — Rambles and Studies in Greece, By J. P. Mahaffy. 

" To the intelligent traveler and lover of Greece this volume will 
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Mathews — The Church and the Changing Order. By Shailer 

Mathews. 
" The book throughout is characterized by good sense and restraint 
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Mathews — The Gospel and the Modem Man. By Shailer 

Mathews, 
" A succinct statement of the essentials of the New Testament." 
— Service. 

Nearing — Wages in the United States, By Scott Nearing. 

" The book is valuable for anybody interested in the main question 
of the day — the labor question." 

Patten — The Social Basis of Religion. By Simon N. Patten. 
" A work of substantial value." — Continent. 

6 



Peabody — The Approach to the Social Question. By Francis 

Greenwood Peabody. 

" This book is at once the most delightful, persuasive, and saga* 
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Pierce — The Tariff and the Trusts. By Franklin Pierce. 

" An excellent campaign document for a non-protectionist." — 
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Rauschenbusch — Christianity and the Social Crisis. By Walter 

Rauschenbusch. 
" It is a book to like, to learn from, and to be charmed with." — 
New York Times. 

Riis — The Making of an American. By Jacob Riis. 

" Its romance and vivid incident make it as varied and delightful 
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Riis — Theodore Roosevelt, the Citizen. By Jacob Riis. 

" A refreshing and stimulating picture." — New York Tribune. 

Ryan — A Living Wage; Its Ethical and Economic Aspects. By 
Rev. J. A. Ryan. 

" The most judicious and balanced discussion at the disposal of the 
general reader." — World To-day. 

Scott — Increasing Human Efficiency in Business. By Walter 
Dill Scott. 
" An important contribution to the literature of business psy- 
chology." — The American Banker. 

St. Maur — The Earth's Bounty. By Kate V. St. Maur. 
" Practical ideas about the farm and garden." 

St. Maur — A Self-supporting Home. By Kate V. St. Maur. 

" Each chapter is the detailed account of all the work necessary 
for one month — in the vegetable garden, among the small fruits, 
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to be met with on the small farm." — Louisville Courier- Journal. 

Sherman — What is Shakespeare? By L. A. Sherman. 

" Emphatically a work without which the library of the Shake- 
speare student will be incomplete." — Daily Telegram. 

Sidgwick — Home Life in Germany. By A. Sidgwick. 

" A vivid picture of social life and customs in Germany to-day." 

Simons — Social Forces in American History. By A. W. Simons. 
"A forceful interpretation of events in the light of economics." 

7 



Smith — The Spirit of American Government. By J. Allen Smith. 
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Spargo — Socialism. By John Spargo. 

" One of the ablest expositions of Socialism that has ever been 
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Tarbell — History of Greek Art. By T. B. Tarbell. 

" A sympathetic and understanding conception of the golden age 
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Trask — In the Vanguard. By Katrina Trask. 

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Valentine - How to Keep Hens for Profit. By C. S. Valentine. 

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Van Dyke — The Gospel for a World of Sin. By Henry Van 
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Van Dyke — The Spirit of America. By Henry Van Dyke. 

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Veblen — The Theory of the Leisure Class. By Thorstein B. 

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Vedder — Socialism and the Ethics of Jesus. By Henry C. 
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" A timely discussion of a popular theme." — New York Post. 

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"... the best book on Socialism by any American, if not the best 
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" As a presentation of Socialistic thought as it is working to-day, 
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8 



Weyl — The New Democracy. By Walter E. Weyl. 

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years." 

White — The Old Order Changeth. By William Allen White. 

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II 



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12 



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13 



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